The Story Must Go On
by determined-or-something
Summary: Sequel to "The Love of Family" where relationships are strengthened, new additions are added, and the past is revisited. You don't necessarily have to read the first one to read this one, but it's recommended.
1. The Inciting Incident

**A/n:** I'm baaack!

I apologize for the wait! Once my finals ended, it was Christmas. And then I got sick and then work took over and in the midst of all that a bunch of mental health things took over as well, but here we go!

Onto the story!

 **Disclaimer: Still don't own Pitch Perfect - just the original characters and the plot.**

* * *

 **Chapter One: The Inciting Incident**

Beca was driving with Chloe in the passenger's seat, they were on their way to have dinner with Micah and Dani at the siblings' shared apartment. It had become sort of a routine when the two moved in together right before Dani's sophomore year at USC because while Chloe is an amazing cook, the two siblings learned how to cook when they moved out so that they didn't have to live on leftovers and Top Ramen.

"How was your day?" Beca asked as they sat in Southern California traffic while grabbing her wife's hand.

"Meh," Chloe said. "It was a day where all I wanted to do was come and find you, bury myself deep within you, and never leave. Sometimes - sometimes I wish I could start my own private school. The public school system is failing students on a daily basis."

"Well, we can cuddle at the kids' apartment after dinner." Beca said, squeezing her hand. "And this weekend, you don't have to leave my arms."

Chloe hummed, "I like the sound of that." She said. The two sat in silence as they drove the rest of the way to Micah and Dani's apartment. Beca got out of the car and rushed over to open Chloe's door, the music producer doesn't do it very often, but when she does, it takes Chloe by surprised. "Thanks," Chloe blushed.

Beca pulled her wife into a kiss, "Of course," she said.

The two walked up to the apartment and smelt whatever was cooking in the kitchen, they allowed themselves in, sparing from their children's pleas to just _use their key_. And when they walked in, they saw Dani cooking and Micah nowhere to be found.

"Hi princess," Beca said.

"Hi Moms." Dani said. "You're early."

"Yeah, we managed to beat some traffic." Beca said. "Where's bubba?"

"He just texted saying that he was leaving the studio." Dani said. "Something about Tommy Levit."

"Oh no," Beca said.

"Why do you keep him on?" Dani asked. "You see how riled up he gets Micah."

"We have a contract with him," Beca said coming to hug her daughter from behind.

"So, terminate his contract." Dani reasoned. "I get the brunt of whatever he does to Micah and I don't like it."

"I would if I could, princess." Beca said.

"Why can't you?" Dani asked.

"Promised him when he came on that I would treat him like any other producer." Beca said going into their refrigerator to grab a beer.

"So I have to receive the brunt of the anger boiling up inside of him?" Dani asked incredulously.

"If it ever gets bad, just send him to us," Chloe said, Beca nodding in agreement. "You know half the time it's just because he needs a back rub." The door opened abruptly and then slammed shut behind the person opening it, "Like right now. You keep cooking, I'll greet and deal with bubba." Chloe went to the door to see him taking off his shoes, she wrapped her arms around his waist and said, "What's wrong love?"

"Tommy fucking Levit" Micah grumbled as he threw his keys into the bowl near the front door.

"C'mere, let's not go into the kitchen quite yet." Chloe said pulling him to cuddle with her on the couch.

" _Mo-om,_ I'm hungry." He whined.

"Dinner's not even ready yet," Dani called from the kitchen. "Calm down."

Micah cuddled into Chloe, "I really can't do this right now, Mom." He said. "It's hard enough that I only get to see Cody in person once every six months. I'm so tired of dealing with all of this."

"Did you take your medication today?" Chloe asked softly.

Shortly into his first year of college, Micah was diagnosed with severe anxiety and mild depression. He was on medication to help manage them, but he didn't always take it. Chloe constantly checked in to make sure the boy was actually taking care of himself because like she could be, he took care of everyone else before himself.

"No," Micah admitted.

"Why not?" Chloe asked gently.

"Forgot." He mumbled.

"Where do you keep it?" She asked running fingers through his hair.

"In my bathroom's medicine cabinet," he mumbled curling further into the redhead.

She kissed his head, "Beca honey," Chloe then called.

"Yeah, love?" Beca called from the kitchen.

"Can you come here, please?" Chloe asked.

"Sure," Beca said walking into the room, "what's up?"

"Can you go get Micah's medication from the medicine cabinet in his medicine cabinet, please?" Chloe asked softly.

"Of course." Beca said leaning down to kiss both of their foreheads.

Beca walked out of the room leaving Micah to cuddle into Chloe, over the years the two of them shared an unspoken bond with his anxiety. Beca didn't know what to do half the time, and Chloe always stepped in to help.

When Beca returned with the bottle of medication, Chloe was coaxing Micah to sit up, Beca went to go get her son a glass of water and when she returned, the man quickly took it, and then curled back into Chloe.

"Bad day?" Beca said sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. The man nodded, "Tommy?" The man nodded again. "What happened this time?" She asked hoping that the man would use words.

"He thinks that this was all handed to me," he mumbled. "He keeps saying shit that makes me get so aggravated."

Chloe kissed his head, "What does he keep saying?" Beca asked.

"That if _mommy would've known better I would be out of a job,_ " he said in a high voice to poorly imitate the teenager he was furious with. "Like you're the one who gave me six Grammy nominations and wins over the last seven years." He mumbled.

"He says that?" Beca asked softly, honing in her anger. "Really?"

Micah nodded, "I know I rely on you a lot and I know this job kinda was handed to me, but I work hard." He said.

"You do," Beca said, "I'll talk with him tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay," he said.

"Dinner's ready!" Dani called from the kitchen.

Chloe squeezed Micah's shoulders, "C'mon, bubba." She said. "Let's get some food in you."

* * *

Later that night, Beca had Chloe and Dani cuddled into her while Micah was playing a video game with Parker, who was across the country.

"C'mon bro, you had that." Micah said into the microphone.

"Taylor's facetiming me," Dani mumbled looking at her phone.

"Well, answer it." Beca said happily.

Dani swiped the answer button and after it connected, "Hey Tay." She said. "Moms are here."

 _"Oh perfect, we can all endure the boys playing video games together." She said._

"Hi baby girl," Chloe said as Dani handed Beca the phone so Taylor could see all of them.

 _"Hi Moms." She said. "I forgot that you two were going over there tonight."_

"Yeah, every Friday." Chloe said. "How was your day baby girl?"

 _"It was okay," Taylor said softly._

 _"Oh come on," was heard from Parker in the background._

"Sucka." Micah said into the microphone.

 _"How was your days?" She asked ignoring her husband and brother playing video games._

"It was alright," Chloe said.

"I had a good day," Beca said looking at the screen yet answering her daughter.

 _"How about you, sissy?" Taylor asked._

"Long." She said with a yawn curling as far as she could into Beca.

 _"So, uh, I have news." Taylor said._

 _"Oh come on, bro. You couldn't have waited two more seconds," Parker yelled in the background._

 _"Or we have news for you." Taylor said._

"What's that baby?" Beca said running fingers through Dani's hair.

 _"You two," she gestured between Beca and Chloe, "are going to choose on which one of you is Grandma because in about nine months you'll both be one."_

"You're pregnant?" Chloe said with a huge smile making Micah spit out the beer he was drinking.

"What?" The man called from the background.

 _Parker chuckled in the background, "What up, Uncle Micah?" He then said._

"Congratulations baby." Beca said. "Totally not calling dibs on grandma though."

Chloe pinched her side with a smile, "I'm so happy for you two. How are you doing your residency while pregnant?" She asked.

 _"Taking one day at a time." Taylor said._

"Good, good." Chloe said as there was a knock at the door.

"Hold on dude." Micah said to Parker as he got up. He went to the door, headset still on and controller still in hand, he opened the door to a frozen Aubrey, "Aunt Bree? Is everything okay?"

"N-n-no." She got out with Emily close behind her.

"Aunt Em?" He asked. "What's going on?"

"I drove her here. I didn't trust her to drive by herself." Emily said.

"Come in." He said opening the door wider, as Emily guided Aubrey into the apartment.

"Hey Bree." Beca said. "Hey Legacy."

"Hey Park," Micah then said into his headset, "I gotta go."

 _"Alright dude," was heard through FaceTime. "Catch ya later."_

Micah then went to turn off the game console and went back to his aunts, sister, and mothers.

 _"I'm gonna go," Taylor said. "Fill me in later though."_

"What's going on?" Micah asked. "Is it Cody?"

A few weeks before this, Cody had been sent out on another deployment. It was for 18 months and after he got back the two were going to get married and hopefully settle down a little bit.

"He-he's-he's missing in action." Aubrey got out. Emily had her arm wrapped around her, just like the lawyer did all those years ago.

"What?" Micah asked not believing.

"From what I got out of her," Emily said, "his plane went down and when they reached the ground, everyone was counted for except for Cody."

Micah shot up and walked to the other side of the room, "How long?" The man asked.

"I-I've only known for the last t-two hours." Aubrey got out. "I th-think they said he's been missing since yes-yesterday."

Micah grabbed the counter, "Why didn't they call me?" He asked. "I'm his fiancé. They shouldn't have you be telling me this."

Chloe got up to go to her son, who was on the verge of a panic attack, "Baby, it's okay," she said as he tried to walk away, his knees gave out and he fell to the ground. Chloe immediately at his side.

Beca and Dani were at a loss of what to do, so they just sat there as Chloe comforted Micah and Emily comforted Aubrey. Then after some time Aubrey got up and went to Micah, who over the time span of seven and a half years, had become like a second son to her. The two lied on the floor, Aubrey holding Micah close as they both cried and tried to figure out what they were going to do together.

* * *

Dani walked into work the following Monday morning, all weekend she had spent between working at home and comforting her brother. She was setting up her laptop and turning on her computer when she heard a knock on the door, she looked up and saw one of her business partners.

"Morning Matthew," she said.

"Morning Dani," he said. "Good weekend?"

Dani shrugged, "Meh, family stuff." She responded.

"Is everything okay?" He asked concerned, placing a mug of coffee for her on her desk.

"It will be," she responded. "Thank you. How was your weekend?"

"Same 'ol, same 'ol." He said.

"How's Mary and the kids?" Dani asked before taking a sip of the coffee.

"Okay," he responded. "Mary and I are separated now."

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Dani said.

Matthew shrugged, "It's all good. It's for the best." He said. "Anyway, we've been getting reports about there being an issue with our app crashing, could you look into that?"

Dani nodded, "Yeah, of course, I'll get on that right now." She said.

"Cool," Matthew said, gently placing his hand on her arm. "I'll let you get to work, just wanted to check in with you and let you know."

"Cool, thanks." Dani said sitting down drinking more of her coffee looking at her computer screen, oblivious to the man staring at her with a soft smile on his face as the woman worked for a minute. Out of the other three co-founders, he was only one that knew about Dani's past and why she was so private and somewhat jaded to the world. So, he'd continue to lay small hints along the way about his feelings for her and maybe she'd feel the same way.

* * *

Beca was walking into Legacy Records, she had given Micah the day off to just sleep, so she was coming from his and Dani's apartment from checking in on him.

"Hey Beca," her assistant Sarah said, "uh, you have a few visitors in your office."

"Oh?" Beca said.

"They wouldn't tell us who they were," the assistant looked down, almost like Beca was going to scold her for not trying harder.

"It's okay," Beca said. "I'll deal with it." Beca walked into her office and saw the back of her brother's head, "Nick, what are you-" and then everything seemed to stop. He stood there with all three of their parents. Dr. Ryder Mitchell and Rachel Williams stood on the other side of the office. "What's-what's going on?" The music producer asked.

"We came to talk to you," her father said. "Just hear us out. We know that it'll take time to forgive us for what we did."

"We saw that we have three grandkids," her mother said.

"Four technically," Beca said not wanting to count Bailee out. "With a great grandchild on the way." She added.

"Oh," Rachel said then looking at her ex-husband, "we've missed a lot."

"We have," Ryder said softly.

"Where's Sheila?" Beca asked noticing her stepmother's missing presence.

"Uh," Ryder said, "I left her about fifteen years ago. She cheated on me with another man."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Beca said then looking at her brother.

"They begged me Bec," Nick said. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Beca said softly. "I do have to get to work though."

"Of course," Ryder said. "We'll let you get to work. Your mother and I are here for the next several days."

"Let's grab lunch tomorrow then," Beca said. "We'll talk about things."

"Sounds good," her father said. "We know we can't make up for the last 30 years, but we'd like to maybe have a second chance. Officially meet Chloe and meet the grandkids."

"Yeah, definitely," her mother agreed.

"I'll have to talk with Chloe." Beca said. "See if she's up to that. You really hurt me when you disowned me and she gets pretty protective when it comes to you two."

"Understandable," the parents said in unison.

"We'll get going," Nick said. "Let you get to work."

The three left the office leaving Beca still standing there a little confused on what just happened. She looked out the window to the busyness of downtown Los Angeles trying to process everything.

* * *

"Absolutely not!" Chloe exclaimed after Beca told her what was going on as they were eating dinner at home that night.

"Babe," Beca said softly.

"They _left_ you broken, Bec." Chloe said. "And now what they think they can waltz back in your life close to thirty years later because they want a second chance?"

"Love," Beca said softly.

"I can't even believe that you're entertaining the idea," the redhead said. "Do you remember how broken you were when they said they wanted nothing to do with you? Do you remember how many nights you cried trying to just accept the idea?"

"Of course, I do." Beca said.

"Then how could you be okay with this?" Chloe asked stood up. "How could you allow them back into your life after _everything_ they've put you through?"

"I'm always so jealous when I see you and your mom together and before your dad died, I was always so jealous that you had two supportive parents. What was I supposed to do? They were standing in my office, practically begging for a second chance. I want to give that to them. Can you give that to me? Can you suck it up for one meal? I'm not asking you to forgive them immediately. It took me a long time to actually forgive them."

Chloe had her hand on the edge of the island in the middle of the kitchen, her back facing Beca. The brunette stood up and went behind her wife, wrapping her arms around her, placing her chin on the redhead's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Chloe whispered.

Beca kissed the side of her neck, "What for, beautiful?" She asked.

"I shouldn't have just yelled at you like that." Chloe whispered.

"It's fine, love. I know how protective you get when it comes to my parents." Beca said softly. "I know you love me and that's where it's coming from."

"I just don't want to see you hurt again." Chloe said.

"I think I can be guarded for awhile, until they earn trust back." Beca said. "They want to meet officially meet you and meet the kids."

"Invite them over for dinner tomorrow. We'll get Micah and Dani over here. Get Taylor on Skype or something." Chloe said softly.

"I'll do that." Beca said. "I love you, Chlo."

"I love you too, Bec." Chloe said turning in her wife's arms, giving her a small kiss.

* * *

Micah was lying on the couch watching SportsCenter on tv when the apartment doorbell rang. He slowly got up and answered it to see Aubrey standing on the other side with his favorite dinner and a couple of six packs of beer.

"Dani texted me and said she was going to be in the office really late and I thought that you could use some company. I know I could." The lawyer said.

Micah softly smiled and opened the door wider, "Thanks," he murmured as she walked passed him. "How are you really doing?" She asked placing everything on the coffee table.

"I've been better," he answered honestly. "Still in shock."

"Yeah, me too." Aubrey said.

"Uh, the Yankee-Red Sox game is on MLB Network," he mentioned. "Not sure if you're up for it."

"That's why I brought beer and your favorite pizza," Aubrey said.

Micah smiled and sat down next to his aunt, changing the channel, grabbing a piece of pizza and a bottle of beer. "Did you work today?" He asked.

"Uh, no. I took a personal day." Aubrey said. "You?"

"My mama and Aunt Emily made me take a personal day." He said. "I'll be back at it tomorrow though."

"Me too," Aubrey said.

The two settled into a silence eating, drinking beer, and watching the game. Aubrey and Micah's relationship had grown a little over the years, but they still didn't have a close relationship like the lawyer did with Taylor and Dani. The lawyer sometimes still was a little intimidating to the young music producer.

"Oh come on," Micah said as the batter for the Red Sox hit a third foul ball.

"Are you a Red Sox fan?" Aubrey asked.

"No, but Cody is and the Dodgers aren't playing tonight." He said sheepishly.

Aubrey nodded her head and then reached for a bottle of beer before sitting back in the couch. It was fairly quiet for a long time as the two watched the game, occasionally making comments about the game. That's how the two were for the night and somewhere in the middle of the sixth inning, Aubrey found herself curled into her nephew as he held her, knowing that all his aunt needed was to be held.

And when Dani came quietly into the apartment at three am, she found both of them fast asleep on the couch, empty beer bottles all over the coffee table, and the tv on low. She smiled at the two knowing that they must be in a lot of confusion and pain at the moment. She threw the USC blanket that was on the back of the couch over the two of them, knowing that Micah would make some comment about how he was a Bruin not a Trojan first thing in the morning.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** So as you can see, the arcs are somewhat in place.

Dani will be dealing with the whole dating situation.

Taylor and Parker will be navigating through her being pregnant. I have a few scenes in mind for just the two of them in Boston.

Bechloe will be dealing with Beca's parents coming back into the picture.

Micah and Aubrey's relationship will grow stronger as Cody is missing in action.

And I haven't come up with something for Emily yet. Still playing with a few ideas in my mind.

Other arcs might come up too, haven't decided yet.

 **Also:** So, hi. It's been a month and a half. It's been pretty crazy and I start school a week from today and I have this internship thing that seems to like to take over all my free time. So I don't know how often updates are going to be. I apologize in advance.


	2. The Crazy, Messed Up Family Of Four

**A/n:** Sooo sorry for the wait! School picked up, work picked up, a bunch of personal stuff came up. Adult-ing is hard.

Anyway, here we go.

 _Big chunk of italics is a flashback._

* * *

 **Chapter Two: The Crazy, Messed Up Family Of Four**

Dani was sitting in her office, debating about what she wanted for lunch, when she got a phone call from Chloe.

"Hey Mom," she answered.

 _"Hey angel." Chloe said. "Are you busy?"_

"No," the woman answered her mom, "I was about to go out and get lunch."

 _"Would it be weird to admit that I'm actually standing outside your office building with your favorite food?" Chloe asked sheepishly._

Dani chuckled, "Well, are you?" She asked.

 _Beat. "Yeeeah." Chloe answered._

"Well don't tell Mama, but you're my favorite mom right now." Dani said.

 _"I heard that." Beca's voice was heard._

 _"I also brought Mama," Chloe said. "We figured we could have a mamas lunch with you."_

Dani looked out her office window to see her two moms standing outside the building, a soft smile came on the engineer's face, "Well, what are you waiting for? Get up here already."

They both hung up and Dani went to the front of the office to let them in. Ever since starting the non-profit with some of her college friends, Beca and Chloe would come by often enough to be mistaken as employees of the company.

When the mothers got up to the door, Dani embraced them hard. She had come a long way from that 14 year old that was trying to deal with life on her own. She now was pretty outspoken when she just needed her moms.

"I'm so glad that you two are here," Dani said making the mothers smile. "Come on back." They walked back to Dani's office and as the engineer shut the door, she sat across from her moms as they handed her a cheeseburger with a Dr. Pepper. "What do I owe this surprise for?"

"Well, we know that we've been coming over for Micah a lot recently, but we thought we could spend some time with you during lunch." Chloe said.

"We know you're coming over tonight to meet my parents," Beca said, "but we don't wanna make the same mistake we made with Taylor when she was first in college with you."

"I get it though," Dani said. "Micah needs a lot of love right now. So does Aunt Bree. I know you two love me, but I also know that the world doesn't revolve around me either."

"We just wanna spend some alone time with you." Chloe said. "We figured if we showed up here with food, you wouldn't turn us away."

"Even if you just showed up, I wouldn't turn you two away." Dani said. "You're my moms." She added with a chuckle. Beca smiled as a knock came on the door, "Yeah?" Dani called as the door opened.

Matthew poked his head it, "Oh, I didn't know you had company." He said seeing Beca and Chloe. "Hi Beca and Chloe."

"Hi," the couple said back to the man.

"They just randomly showed up," Dani said. "What's up?" She asked before taking a bite into her cheeseburger.

"We need you to add some stuff to the app and website when you get a chance? We have Noah going around speaking at some high schools starting in a couple of weeks." The man said.

"Yeah, of course." Dani said. "If you could email me everything you want me to put on the app, that'd be great."

Matthew pulled his phone out and sent out a quick text, "I'm having one of the interns send it to you. I actually don't know them, I was just told to come and tell you." He said.

"Why couldn't Noah just come and tell me himself?" Dani asked before taking another bite into her burger.

"Well, you kinda come off as hard to talk to." Matthew said. "I know that's how engineers normally are, but the rest of the staff and interns are having a hard time dealing with that."

"Hard to talk to?" Dani asked incredulously.

"You have a little bit of a resting bitch face." Matthew said making Chloe laugh.

Dani swung over to see her mom, "I'm sorry angel. You're just - you're just a lot more like your mama than I originally thought you were." The redhead said.

Beca shrugged, "It's unfortunately true for you, princess." The music producer said. "You do have a little bit of a resting bitch face. I think it's apart of the Mitchell charm. Sorry that the Beale-ness didn't take over you like it did your sister."

Dani sighed and then turned back to Matthew and said, "Have the intern said it over to me and I'll have it up by three at the latest."

Matthew smiled softly as he looked at her, "Okay, will do. Enjoy your lunch with your moms." He said as he left the room and shut the door.

Dani turned back around to see her mothers with knowing looks on both of their faces, "What?" She asked as she took another bite of her burger.

"He totally has a thing for you," Beca blurted out.

"Who? Matthew?" Dani said before scoffing, "He's my colleague, Mama. Even if he did have feelings for me, it'd be totally inappropriate to act on it."

"Okay, whatever you say, princess." Beca said before taking a bite of her burger.

"So, what should Micah and I be expecting tonight?" Dani asked, changing the subject.

"I'm not too sure," Beca said. "They want to meet you, get to know you, we're skyping in Taylor and Bailee. Something in their heart changed and I'm sure we'll find out what it was tonight."

"Are you nervous?" Dani asked.

"A little, I haven't really had any kind of relationship with them since the day before I married your mom." Beca answered.

"Why do you think they had a change of heart?" Dani asked.

"I'm not sure," Beca said.

"Is Uncle Nick going to be there tonight too?" Dani asked.

"He should be." Beca answered. "Can - can we talk about something else?"

"Yeah, sorry." Dani said. "Is Micah doing okay? I haven't seen him much recently."

"Yeah," Beca said. "He's a little more withdrawn than usual, but I think he's trying to hold himself together to help Aunt Bree."

"Makes sense," she said. "They've been watching a lot of baseball at our place, cuddling on the couch." She added. "It's cute considering how scared he was of her when they first met."

"It really is." Chloe said. "I'm glad that they have a good relationship now."

"She's gonna be his mother-in-law." Beca said. "It's crazy to think of it that way."

"Yeah," Dani said as she finished her burger. "They've been strong for each other, I'm interested to see who breaks first."

"Twenty bucks that it's Aunt Bree." Beca said.

"Twenty bucks that it's Micah." Dani said at the same time.

"No," Chloe said. "Don't bet on that."

"Oh come on, babe." Beca said, "You can't be telling me that you aren't thinking the same thing."

"This is somebody's emotional wellbeing." Chloe said. "I would never bet on that." Silence fell over the three, "But if I were it'd definitely be Bree."

Dani shook her head at the nonsense she and her moms were creating as they finished lunch.

* * *

Micah was standing looking out the window in his office, he had a beautiful view of the city from where he was standing. He was thinking about Cody, specifically, how he proposed to him right out of his West Point graduation.

 _Cody was back in Los Angeles after graduation, he had some time before he was supposed to ship out for his first duty as a United States Army Lieutenant. It was the night before the military man was supposed to ship out and both he and Micah were helping Chloe out with a South Los Angeles senior prom._

 _Micah had it all planned out, he had asked permission to use the counselor's office where they had first met. The two were wandering around after the prom and then when it started to sprinkle they walked into the counseling office to keep dry for a little while. Micah couldn't have planned it better._

 _They were sitting thinking about how Cody was drawing in his sketchbook and Micah was sitting on the other side. They reminisced for awhile before Micah couldn't handle it anymore._

 _"Cody Adams Posen," he began, "you honestly make me want to become a better man every single day. I've never loved anyone in the way that I love you. Loving you is like falling in love for the first time over and I don't want to spend another day without saying these words." Micah pulled out a box from his dress slacks and asked, "Will you do me the great honor of walking through life with me forever as my husband?"_

 _Tears developed in Cody's eyes, marriage was always a sketchy topic with the man on one knee in front of him, the military man thought he was going to spend years wearing him down, but here he was asking the question that he never thought he'd ask._

 _"Yes, of course." Cody said._

 _Micah smiled that smile that Cody falls in love with every time he gives it as he slips the ring on his finger and stands up to kiss his fiancé. "I love you." Micah said._

 _"I love you too," Cody said as he kissed him again._

Micah was shaken out of the memory by someone coming into his office, "Micah?" The voice said.

He turned around to see Brandon Leaf calling him, "Oh hey man, what's up?" Micah said turning professional really quickly.

"So I'm ready to do another album and I want you to do it." Brandon said. "I know you're in the middle of cutting Tommy Levit's record right now."

"I can take on another one. I'll work with Tommy during the day and we can cut yours at night." Micah said. "When do you want to start?"

"Next week?" Brandon suggested.

"I can do that." Micah said. "But, let's catch up first, how's life? The family?"

Brandon smiled, "We're all good. Monica just had our fifth child. Another boy." He answered.

"Damn, _five_ boys in one house? I feel bad for her." Micah said.

"Definitely. That's why our husky is a girl." Brandon joked making Micah chuckle. "I, uh, heard about Cody on the news. You and Aubrey must be going through some tough shit right now."

Micah nodded, "We are, but it's not anything that we can't handle together." He said. "I'm more worried about if they find him, what he'll be like when he gets back. That PTSD is going to be hard to decipher."

"I'm sure it will be." Brandon said. "I don't know what else to say right now other than I'm sorry."

"We'll get through it." Micah said. "I sure miss him a lot though."

"I bet." Brandon said. "If there's anything Monica and I can do for you and Aubrey, please let me know. I know Monica would extend the same offer."

"Thank you," Micah said. "I'll pass that along to Aubrey too."

Brandon smiled before pulling out his phone, "So I have pictures of the new baby and recent ones of the kids." He said changing the subject.

Micah smiled, "Yeah, bring it on." He said as he leaned forward.

* * *

That night at the Mitchell-Beale residence, Beca was barbecuing in the backyard when Micah got there. He brought him and his mama out a beer after saying hi to his mom and younger sister.

"Hey Mama," he said coming out back.

"Hey bubba." She said barbecuing steaks, taking the beer from him. "How are you?"

"I'm alright." Micah answered honestly. "Brandon Leaf came to ask me personally to do his next album."

Beca's face lit up, "Really?" She asked.

The man nodded, "Yeah, I told him that he and I could work at night after I'm done with Tommy Levit for the afternoon." He said.

"That's so cool, baby." She said. "I'm honestly so proud of you and everything you've accomplished so far in your career."

"Thanks Mama." He said with a smile. "I appreciate that."

"How's Aunt Bree doing?" Beca then asked.

"As okay as she can be." He said. "I'm actually going to go to her place after this so she doesn't have to be alone."

"Thank you for taking care of her." Beca said.

Micah shrugged, "She's taking care of me just as much." He responded.

"I'm glad you two have each other." Beca said taking the steaks off the grill. "And I'm glad that Brandon Leaf wants to work with you again. That's a good sign, especially if he came to you directly."

"I know," he said. "I'm really excited."

"Help me take these inside?" Beca asked.

"Of course." Micah said taking one of the two plates.

As the two walked inside the house and into the kitchen, they saw Chloe finishing a salad and Dani setting the table. Beca placed the food down and came behind her wife and kissed the base of her neck, "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too baby." Chloe whispered back and sank into her embrace.

"We'll get through this," Beca whispered.

"Of course," Chloe said as she looked up and over her shoulder to kiss her wife and then they both looked over to their two youngest kids.

Micah started to help Dani setting the table as the two were talking, "Did you get the rent check in on time?" Dani asked Micah.

"I dropped it off the morning on my way to work," he answered. "That's okay right?" He asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, just as long as you got it in today before the office closed." She said.

"Did you cover the utilities?" Micah asked.

"Yeah, yesterday." She said. "We need more toilet paper."

"I can pick that up on my way home from Aunt Bree's tonight." He said. "I'll pick up laundry detergent too. We're low on it."

"Cool, I gotta go back to the office tonight, so I probably will be home really late." Dani said.

The doorbell rang and Beca walked pass the kids to go get it, "You two sound more grown up that I want you to be." She said making the kids chuckle.

Beca got to the door, took a deep breath, and then opened it to see her parents and brother standing on the other side. "Hi, come on in." She said opening the door wider.

The three came into the house and Ryder handed Beca a bottle of wine, "We didn't know what you drank, but we thought we'd bring something." He said.

"Oh Dad, Mom, you didn't have to, but thank you." Beca said as they all walked towards the kitchen. When they arrived to the kitchen, Chloe and the kids said their hellos and gave hugs to Nick and then Beca took over, "Mom, Dad, this is Chloe and our two youngest kids, Micah and Dani."

"It's so nice to meet you." Dani said shaking both of their hands.

"Really nice to meet you," Micah said shaking their hands.

"Bailee and Taylor are going to Skype in later." Chloe said.

"Oh cool," Rachel said. "Thank you for having us." She added.

"Of course," Chloe said. "Dinner is ready, let's sit down and eat."

Everyone sat at the table when Nick asked, "Can I get a beer?"

"Oh yeah, of course, big brother." Beca said getting up to get one for him. "Mom, Dad, do you want anything? I can open that bottle of wine you brought."

"Sure." The both said.

"Baby," Beca said to Chloe, "can I get you anything?"

"I'll help you with that wine." Chloe said.

It then got silent in the kitchen that Micah broke, "So, Uncle Nick, did you catch that Dodger-Giant game the other day?"

"Oh yeah," Nick said. "It was a beautiful no hitter."

"I have an extra ticket to next Friday's game against the Padres if you wanna come." He said. "Mama has to be in the studio."

"Let's go." He said. "I have next Friday off."

"Cool," Micah said as Beca came back with the doctor's beer and Chloe with Ryder and Rachel's wine and a glass of her own.

"So," Rachel said, "Dani, what do you do?"

Dani wiped her mouth and swallowed some of her food and said, "I'm a computer software engineer for United Justice."

"What is that?" Ryder asked curiously.

Dani smiled, "It's a nonprofit that focuses on helping women who were sexually assaulted and/or in a domestic violence relationship and we also help foster youth who may have been put in similar situations with foster parents in the greater Los Angeles and Orange County." She said, she was pretty passionate about her work.

"Oh wow," Ryder said. "That's really cool."

"Thanks," Dani said.

"What about you, Micah?" Rachel asked. "What do you do?"

He took a sip of his beer and said, "I'm one of the senior producers at Legacy Records."

"Oh, I guess we didn't see you the other day when we were in the office." Rachel said.

"He wasn't there," Beca said. "Taking a personal day."

"Oh," Rachel said.

"It's fine, it's pretty rare when I do." Micah said. "I think that's the only personal day I've taken in seven years. I've taken vacation and even that is rare."

"Even the best at the craft need a personal day every now and then." Ryder mentioned.

Micah smiled, there was something off about the ex-couple, but something was about to happen he could feel it deep down in his gut.

* * *

 _"Hi," Bailee said to the family as she and Taylor got on the group Skype call._

 _"Yeah, hi." Taylor said._

"Oh you both look exhausted," Chloe said.

 _"Just got off a 12 hour shift." Taylor said._

 _"Haven't really slept well all week." Bailee said._

"You two ready?" Beca asked before they turned the computer around. Both women gave a nod and Beca turned around, "Mom, Dad, these are our oldest kids. Bailee and Taylor. Loves, these are my parents."

"Ryder," the man said.

"Rachel," the woman said.

 _"It's really nice to meet you." Taylor said._

 _"A real pleasure." Bailee said._

"So a resident doctor and an Army officer?" Ryder asked.

 _"Yup," Taylor said._

 _"Yes, sir." Bailee said._

"Ah and now we can tell who is who," Ryder joked.

"Where's Parker?" Beca asked Taylor.

 _"He's having a late night in the office." Taylor said. "Being sports editor when the Red Sox are doing really well this season is no small job."_

"That's true." Beca said. "Her husband is the sports editor of the Boston Globe." She then told her parents.

Ryder's eyes widened, "Your husband is Parker Junk?" He asked.

 _"Uh yeah," Taylor said sheepishly._

"Oh sorry, I live in Boston now and read his articles all the time. He's honestly my favorite editor." The man said.

 _"Oh, you live in Boston?" Taylor asked._

"I have for the last five years or so. I love it." The man said.

 _"Well when you get back I'd love to meet you in person, even introduce you to Parker." She said._

"I'd like that a lot." Ryder said then turned to Beca and Chloe, "I mean, if that's okay with you two."

Beca looked at Chloe who nodded her head, "Yeah, I mean, sure."

Ryder smiled before turning his attention back to the two older children to get to know them both better. Beca threw an arm around Chloe and the redhead sunk into it as they watched all four of their children interact with Beca's parents.

* * *

It was well past two in the morning, but Beca, Nick, and their parents were sitting around the fire pit in the backyard drinking wine and beer talking. Dani had excused herself first to go back to the office around nine thirty and Micah had excused himself shortly after to go spend time with Aubrey. Chloe had been falling asleep on Beca's shoulder just a few hours before and the music producer encouraged her to go to bed. So that left the family of four in the backyard talking and when it got silent, Beca finally asked the question that had been on her mind all night. "Why now?"

"What?" Both Ryder and Rachel had asked.

"Almost thirty years ago, you left because I wouldn't break things off with Chloe. I had really gotten into a routine. Nick and I would grab drinks once a week to still be family. I had watched Chloe's relationship with her parents grow, but I never expected you to come back into my life. Why now?" The music producer elaborated.

Silence filled the backyard as the ex-couple tried to piece together what to say.

"We made a mistake," Rachel said surprising everyone. "A mistake that for close to 30 years we've had to live with."

"We spent the last 20 years watching your career thrive," Ryder then said. "We watched you make history by keeping your cool when you left Residual Heat to start Legacy Records. We watched it through the media and we wanted to come back for so long."

"But, we thought you could never forgive us." Rachel said making Beca swallow with tears coming into her eyes.

"I forgave you a long time ago," Beca said. "Actually when I made the decision to leave Residual Heat is around the same time that I forgave you both."

"Really?" The ex-couple asked.

Beca nodded, "Chloe is the only one who knows this, but around that time, I had been seeing a therapist because I was feeling like I was going crazy. Then we started talking about everything and when I got to how you disowned me for being gay, she asked if I had forgiven you two yet and I had said no and then we through an entire process of me forgiving you. So I have forgiven you."

Silence fell upon them before Nick spoke up, "I know we all can't be a family again. I know that there's a lot that needs to be worked out, but this is a start, right?"

Ryder and Rachel looked at Beca and the music producer looked between the two of them, and then Beca spoke up, "It seems that you two have had a change of heart, so I don't see why we couldn't."

The ex-couple smiled as they let the cool, early morning breeze that seemed to be picking up wash over them as the fire died down. They may not be an official family of four anymore, but somewhere in there was some crazy messed up family that they could be.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Again, sorry for the wait. I just got inspired yesterday and started to write and this came about.

Dunno when the next chapter is coming, life is cray man.


	3. What Family Is

**A/n:** I know, I _know._ It's been forever and I apologize for that. Was dealing with personal things and getting over some writer's block. But, I'm back and I can't promise it forever, but I'm living in the moment now. Please forgive me.

 _Big chunks of italics are flashbacks._

* * *

 **Chapter Three: What Family Is**

Beca was in her office when she heard an office door slam and if her motherly instinct was correct, it was Micah's office door and he was livid about Tommy Levit. She got up and walked out of her office and poked her head into Emily's office, "Was that the boy's office door?" She asked her business partner.

Emily didn't look up from the piece of paper she was reading to answer, "Yeah," she said. "Have you talked to Tommy yet?"

Beca sighed, "No, not yet, but I will after I go calm my son down." She said.

Emily looked up from the paper she was reading, "Bec, we may have to part ways with him. I know that's not what you want to do because it makes it seem like you're favoring Micah, but honestly, I would do this for any of our producers that our clients are giving this hard of time for." She said. "Especially with all that he must be feeling with Cody being missing. We are _all_ family here."

Beca sighed again, "You're right. I'll go calm down Micah, you get Tommy Levit into the conference room with his agent." She said leaving the office. She knocked on the office door and heard and muffled, come in. She opened the door and saw her son in the fetal position on the floor. "Oh baby." She whispered closing the door quickly behind her.

"Mama?" He said weakly looking up at her. "Mama..."

"Mama's right here," she said getting on the ground sitting next to him. "Do you want me to FaceTime, Mom? She really knows how to calm you down. I'll stay in here as long as you like." He nods and Beca pulled out her phone and FaceTimes Chloe.

 _"Hi baby," Chloe said when it connected. "What's up?"_

"Hi honey," Beca said softly. "I need you to calm down our boy." She said facing the camera towards the man in the fetal position.

 _"Oh baby boy," the vice principal said softly. "Look at me?" Micah didn't move. "Can I see those beautiful brown eyes that I love so much?" She tried making him look at her, "There they are."_

"Hi Mom," he got out.

 _"What's going on, baby boy?" Chloe asked softly._

"Tommy." Was all he could say.

 _"What did he do now?" Chloe asked softly._

"Just the usual stuff that is pushing me to my breaking point faster today," he said.

"We're terminating his contract today," Beca said firmly.

"You don't have to-" Micah tried.

"No," Beca said firmly. "We would do this for any producer."

Beca looked over at where Chloe was smiling at her for sticking up for their son, "Okay," Micah said softly.

"You let Mom talk you through a breathing exercise, I have to meet with Tommy and his agent." Beca said.

Beca gets up and kissed the top of the boy's head and blowing a kiss to her wife before leaving the office and before she did she heard her wife say:

 _"You know Mama will always be a mama bear for you kids."_

Micah softly chuckled, "I know." He said.

* * *

Chloe was standing in the middle of Legacy Records that afternoon, she had come after work, knowing that her son might need a little extra love. She was making him tea and was going to go sit with him for awhile before he started his recording session with Brandon Leaf.

As she was making tea, she felt arms wrapped around her waist, "Hi baby," Chloe said to Beca.

"Hi beautiful," Beca said to Chloe. "Thanks for coming in after work." The brunette kissed the redhead's shoulder.

"Of course," she said. "One of our babies is in distress, I was gonna come running."

Beca smiled in Chloe's shoulder, "I love you." The music producer said.

"I love you too," the vice principal said. "How'd terminating Tommy's contract go?"

"It was easier than I thought," she said. "The only problem was his reaction."

"I'm sure it wasn't pretty," Chloe said leaning back into Beca. "I love it when you stick up for our kids."

Beca shrugged, "I'd do it for any of my employees though. We're all family here at Legacy Records." She said.

Emily walked into the small kitchen to make coffee and saw the couple cuddling as Chloe made Micah tea, "Close to thirty years and you two will never stop being cute." Emily said.

The couple looked over at Emily and smiled, "Hi Emily." Chloe said.

"Hi Chloe." Emily said back. "How are you?"

"I'm good," the vice principal said. "Just here to take of our boy."

Emily nodded, "Yeah. I was just in there and he looks pretty zoned out." She mentioned.

"I'll get him back up on his game by the time Brandon gets in." Chloe said. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good. A little tired, been taking care of Aubrey a lot lately." She mentioned.

"Thank you for that," Chloe said taking the tea bag out of the mug. "We've been trying to take care of Micah that we haven't really checked in with Bree."

Emily shrugged, "She'd do the same if it were me," she said. "You do what you can for family. That's what makes you family."

Chloe smiled as Beca let her go to answer her phone, "Come over soon though," the redhead said. "I want to catch up."

Emily nodded as Chloe walked back to her son's office when she got there she saw him looking out his window. She shut the door behind her and placed the tea on the desk. "Whatcha thinking about bubba?" She then asked.

"He wanted to get married on the beach. He wanted to adopt two kids after three years. One older, one younger. He wanted a place in West Hollywood. He wanted to be President of the United States. What if he doesn't get to do that?" His voice somber. "What if I don't get to marry the love of my life?" Chloe could tell that he still had more to say, so she just sat in the chair in front of his desk waiting. "What if Aunt Bree has to bury the one person who she's loved so dearly? What if I have to help Aunt Bree bury the one person who kept my feet planted into the ground?" He turned to face Chloe with tears in his eyes, "What if he's lying a third world country dead right now?"

"C'mere," Chloe said moving to the couch to hold him. "Grab your tea."

He grabbed his tea and went to his mom, she held him, she didn't say anything. She knew that he didn't want words in that moment. She knew he just had to get it off his chest to someone listening. So she just held him and that's the best thing she could do in that moment.

* * *

Dani was sitting in her office when she heard a knock on the door, she looked up to see Aubrey standing there. "Hey Aunt Bree." She said.

"Hi monkey." The lawyer said. "I brought dinner because I just missed you."

"I missed you too," Dani said. "Come in, close the door."

Aubrey closed the door behind her and sat in front of her goddaughter, handing her dinner, "How's work going?" The lawyer asked.

Dani took a bite of the burger that was brought for her and said, "Okay, I guess. We're revamping the website and the app. So busy for me."

"You're taking care of yourself, yeah?" Aubrey asked, checking in.

"Oh yeah," she said. "I was about to order dinner on PostMates before you came in."

"And how is everything else?" Aubrey asked.

"Everything is fine, just working a lot." Dani said. "Don't worry, Aunt Bree. I'm doing just fine."

"I'm always gonna worry about you monkey." The lawyer said.

"I know." The engineer said. "How are you doing?" Her voice soft.

Aubrey looked up at her niece with tears in her eyes, "I'm _not_ okay.." She answered honestly.

"What's going on?" Dani asked softly.

"I miss Cody." She said. "I miss his once a week emails, I miss his once a week skype calls, I miss his letters. I miss him _so_ much." Riley didn't say a word, she just let her godmother vent and because of this she continued eating while listening. "I miss the way he'd roll his eyes when I'd ask him if he was taking care of himself. I miss the way he'd just pull me into a random side hug just because he wanted to. I miss the way the sound _'mom'_ came out of his mouth." Dani nodded, she may not of understood, but she does see how much her aunt loves her future brother-in-law. "I keep wandering aimless around the apartment hoping that I get that call saying that they found him and that he's safe. Or that one morning, I'm gonna wake up from this nightmare and he's still going to be here. I miss my baby."

It got silent in the room, Dani looked at her aunt, Aubrey was taking a bite out of her burger and trying not to cry. The engineer decided not to ignore the situation, but wanted to distract her aunt, so she asked, "What can I do to help?" Hoping that her aunt would get where she was getting at.

Aubrey looked up and said, "Distract me in some way. How are you doing, monkey? How's work going?"

Dani smiled, "I'm good just keeping busy with work. Work is obviously busy. We're trying to get the revamp of the app up by the end of the month." She said.

"You really love what you do, huh?" Aubrey asked.

Dani nodded, "I wake up every single morning excited about life and even more excited about what I get to get paid to do. Don't tell anyone, if I didn't have bills to pay, I'd do it for free." She said.

Aubrey smiled, "Your secret is safe with me, honey." She said. "I'm really glad that you found the love of life. You've come a long way from that 14 year old girl who didn't even want to live." She said.

"What made you want to even give rehab a try?" Aubrey asked.

Dani shrugged, "I saw the concern on my moms faces when they came into that hospital room." She said. "I saw how they wouldn't leave my side while I was in the hospital. I realized that life was worth living and I needed help."

Aubrey stared at her niece with a brand new awe that she never felt for the girl before. The lawyer didn't know where her neice was going to end up, but she's so glad it's where she was then and there.

* * *

Beca and Chloe were cuddling on the couch, the music producer playing with the vice principal's hair while they watched tv. Chloe's phone then buzzed on the coffee table in front of them, the redhead leaned forward and said, "Oh, it's Bailee."

"Answer it," Beca said with a smile.

"Hi love," Chloe answered, "I'm putting you on speaker, so Mama can hear you too."

 _"Okay, hi moms." She said._

"Hi honey," Beca said. "How are you?"

 _"I'm good, just making preparations for the wedding." She said._

"Yeah, we got the invitation in the mail." Beca said. "We can't wait to fly out to watch you get married."

"Yeah honey, it'll be great to see you in person again." Chloe said.

 _"Yeah, so, um, about the wedding, I had a question." She said hesitantly._

"What's that love?" Chloe asked softly.

 _She clears her throat, "Micah is playing the role of my maid of honor or best man type of thing with Taylor and Dani being my bridesmaids and I was wondering, if both of you could, I don't know, give me away?" She get out in almost one breath._

The couple looked at each other with tears in their eyes, "Of course honey," Beca answered for them both. "We'd be honored."

 _"Really?" She asked with a hopeful tone._

"Yeah, of course." Chloe said. "We're really honored that you asked us."

The couple was still staring at each other was soft smiles on their faces, both remembering the day that the Mitchell-Beale family went from, _Micah's family_ to _her family._

 _Everyone flew out for Cody's graduation from West Point, Taylor and Parker drove up from Boston. Most of them flying in from LA, Bailee flying up from where she was stationed in North Carolina._

 _One night as things were settling down, Bailee was standing on the balcony of the hotel room when Beca and Chloe were trying to find her._

 _When they found her standing out on the balcony with a beer in hand looking up at the stars, they debated on whether or not to go out, but when they saw that she was crying, their motherly instincts took over and they went to her side._

 _Chloe held her until she stopped crying and they waited for her to speak, "I remember my graduation day from West Point really well." She said curling into Chloe. "I didn't have anyone here for me. I was here on a scholarship. I kept my head down, did what I was told. It was the hardest weekend of my life. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. I came to West Point with the clothes on my back and left not knowing where life was gonna take me. Everyone was going to family before being shipped off to where they were going to be stationed. I stayed in a cheap motel room all by myself before flying to El Paso where I was first stationed. I didn't have a family and it was so hard. That weekend I found out that my brother was placed with you two and your family. That's the only time I felt at peace that weekend." She got up from Chloe's embrace and grabbed the railing of the balcony and continued, "I never wanted a family as much as I did then as much as I do now." She turned around with tears in her eyes and said, "And I know, I know I have you and your family, but sometimes I have to shake off that you adopted my brother and so in an indirect way you adopted me too, but it's... hard. Just-just know I'm trying, okay?"_

 _Beca gets up to hug her tightly, "We do know that love." She whispered._

 _Chloe got up to sandwich the girl between her and her wife and she asked, "What brought this on, lovey?"_

 _Bailee shrugged, "Seeing Cody and Aubrey together this weekend sparked something in me." She said._

 _"We're your family," Beca whispered. "We'll always be your family."_

 _"Yeah love," Chloe said. "You stole our hearts just like your brother did."_

 _"Thanks Moms," she murmured for the first time making the couple look at each other with tears coming down their face embracing the girl harder._

"Both of us, right?" Beca asked still staring into Chloe's eyes.

 _"Yeah," Bailee said. "You've both been equally a huge part of my life for the last several years. I want you both to give me away."_

"We're seriously honored honey," Chloe said still looking back at Beca.

 _"Alright cool," Bailee said. "I, uh, I have to get going, but I figured asking you over the phone would've been better than asking you over text."_

"We appreciate it, honey." Beca said. "We'll talk to you soon, okay?"

 _"Okay, Moms." She said. "Love you."_

"We love you too, baby." Chloe said as they said their goodbyes and hung up.

Chloe cuddled back into Beca and as the music producer said, "We've got some great kids."

The vice principal hummed, "Yeah, we do." She said.

* * *

Taylor was sitting in the kitchen reading something on her laptop when Parker came in from a long day at the office. The man came up behind his wife and started rubbing her shoulders and kissed the side of her head, "Hi Tay." He said.

"Hi Park," she said turning back to kiss him properly. "How was your day?"

"Long," he said. "How was your day?"

"Good, pretty easy." Taylor said. "They have me behind a desk more than making rounds."

"Well, that's good," the man said. "I know it's probably driving you stir-crazy, but I like the idea of you not putting a lot of stress on carrying our little one."

"I get it, Park." She said. "There's leftovers in the fridge from last night. I didn't feel like cooking tonight."

"I can do leftover pizza," he said with a smile moving to the refrigerator. "Whatcha working on?"

"Oh nothing," she answered. "Just reading this article about Cody being missing in action."

Parker sighed thoughtfully, "Yeah, we were talking about that in our staff meeting today." He said. "I really hope he gets found, _alive_ , soon."

"You and me both," Taylor said. "Especially for Aunt Bree and Micah's cases. I can't imagine what they're going through right now."

"Have you talked to either one of them?" Parker asked. Taylor shakes her head, "My mom said that they're both pretty zoned out a lot of the time."

"I should call my brother," Taylor said. "Really check in with him."

"I think that'd be good." Parker said. "I can give you some room and you could FaceTime him."

"You just got home," Taylor said. "I don't want to kick you to your office so soon."

He shrugs, "I have some work that I brought home anyway." He said. "FaceTime your brother, give him my love, and tell him that whenever he feels up to it, I'll be here to play video games with him."

"Okay," Taylor said as Parker kissed her on the way out of the room. She pulled up the FaceTime app on her computer and looked at where her brother's name was and clicked to call him.

 _After four rings, "Hey Tay." His tired face said when it connected._

"Hi bubba." She said. "I just wanted to check in to see how you were."

 _"I'm okay as I can be right now." He said. "It's been a long day."_

"Tommy?" She asked concerned.

 _"Mama and Aunt Emily actually terminated his contract effective immediately today." He said._

"Good." The older sister said with a firm voice. "He was getting to you in ways that were messing with your overall mental health."

 _"Yeah, he definitely added a lot to my plate." He said._

"You look exhausted." Taylor said.

 _"I am." He said. "I haven't been sleeping much lately and my doctor upped my dosage on my medication."_

"Oooh," Taylor said slightly cringing. "Adjusting?"

 _He nods, "Big time." He said. "Don't worry though. Moms and Dani are taking care of me."_

"I'm not worried that much." She said. "How's Aunt Bree?"

 _"She's in the same boat as I am," he said. "We're both struggling right now, but we're getting by. I think the only time we'll be at ease is when we both have Cody back here."_

"Makes sense." She said. "Is there anything I can do?"

 _He shrugged a shoulder, "I just wanna talk to you about anything else right now." He said._

So, that's what they two siblings did. They talked about anything and everything for the next couple of hours and when they hung up and Taylor crawled into bed next to Parker, she felt a little better about her brother and that's all she could do in that moment as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Totally procrastinated on an online assignment to write this. haha, oops.

But, I'm back, pitches. Can't guarantee constant or consistent updates, but definitely will be updating this thing.

It's good to be back.


	4. Catch A Break

**A/n:** Here we go - thank you for the welcome back!

Soooo, a lot of you are going to hate me by the end of this chapter, and I can respect that. I hated me when I thought of it, but it's going into a story arc that I actually really want to do. _Please stick around._ I love all of you, I promise, but don't hate me.

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Catch A Break**

Beca was sitting next to Chloe at Micah and Dani's apartment for their weekly dinner with their kids. Dani was cooking in the kitchen while they were waiting for Micah to get home from his session with Brandon Leaf. Beca wrapped her arm around Chloe, "How was your day, honey?" She asked the redhead.

Chloe placed her head on her wife's shoulder, "It was good. Long, but good." She answered. "How was your day, baby?"

"About the same." The music producer answered. The door of the apartment opened and the couple looked up to see Micah come in with Aubrey and Emily. "Hey."

"Hi," the three of them responded taking off their shoes.

"You three ready to fly to New York for Bailee's wedding in the morning?" Chloe asked.

"Yup," Emily said. "You ready for the second wedding of one of your kid's this year?"

"Yup," Beca said. "How are you doing, Bree?" The music producer asked as the lawyer fell down on the couch next to her.

"I'm okay." Aubrey said putting her head on Beca's shoulder. "As okay as I can be, at least."

Micah sat on the other couch looking at his phone, "How're you doing, bubba?" Chloe asked.

"Fine," he grunted not looking up from his phone.

"Whatcha looking at?" Beca asked.

"Just a work email," he mumbled as Emily sat next to him. He placed his head on her shoulder making her kiss his head and place her head on top of his.

"How's Brandon Leaf's album going?" Beca asked softly, admiring the position that the two were in.

"Good," Micah said. "We're literally in the middle of it. Should be done by the end of the year."

"Good," Beca said. "Would love to sit in on a session soon if that's okay?"

"Of course, Mama." He said. "I could use an extra ear. Same goes for you, Aunt Em."

"Awesome," the woman said wrapping her arm around his shoulders.

"How are you doing, bubba?" Chloe asked again now that she had his full attention.

"I'm okay." He said. "I'm exhausted. Haven't slept well in the last month."

"Ditto." Aubrey murmured.

"Do you feel like you're going to wake up to that phone call that they found him, but he's not alive?" Micah asked Aubrey.

"Every single night." Aubrey answered. "Do you feel like this is just some ongoing nightmare that won't ever go away?"

"Every single day." Micah responded. "I miss him so _fucking_ much."

Aubrey got up and made her way to Micah's other side while Emily slowly got up and went to where Aubrey was sitting next to Beca. The lawyer curled into the young music producer and he held her tight, "We gotta be there for each other." She whispered.

"We do," he said. "I can't do this without you."

"I can't do this without you either," she said.

* * *

Beca woke up the next morning before her alarm went off. She and Chloe were sleeping on the pull-out couch with Dani curled in a ball in the love seat next to them. Emily was sleeping the engineer's room and Aubrey fell asleep talking with Micah in his bedroom.

Beca was staring at her wife as the woman stirred awake when the alarm went off, "Creeper," the redhead mumbled as the brunette turned off the alarm.

The music producer leaned down to kiss her wife, "I love you." She said.

"I love you too baby," the vice principal said, "but you're still a creeper."

They felt the pull out bed dip and saw that they're youngest was crawling in bed with them, "Hi princess," Beca said softly.

"Is it cool if the three of us cuddle?" The engineer mumbled. "I mean, I'm not gonna give you two a choice, but it's nice that I asked, right?"

The moms chuckled, "Get over here, angel." Chloe said with her arms wide open.

Dani crawled into Chloe's arms and mumbled, "Morning Mommy."

"Morning angel." Chloe said wrapping her arms around her and kissing the top of her head as Beca sandwiched her between them.

"Morning Mama," she then mumbled.

"Morning princess," the music producer said.

"What time do we have to get up and start getting ready to go?" Dani asked.

"In about ten minutes." Beca said caressing Chloe's hip.

"The coffee pot should be turning on in about five minutes," Dani mumbled. "And I think I hear Micah and Aunt Bree up."

"Yeah, we're up," Aubrey said coming out of Micah's room. "Aww, this is cute." She said looking at the three of them cuddled on the pull out couch.

"How long have you two been up?" Chloe asked resting her chin on Dani's head while looking up at Aubrey.

"About an hour," the lawyer answered. "We've already been on a run and showered and are ready to go."

"So much energy for the first thing in the morning," Dani mumbled into Chloe's chest. "Not sure who's worse, you or bubba."

"I'll get you coffee, monkey." Aubrey said.

"Now, you're speaking my morning language." Dani said turning into Beca's chest as the moms still sandwiched her in between them.

"I'm gonna get up," Chloe said. "Check on Micah."

"But, you're so warm." Dani whined.

Chloe kissed her daughter's head, "I'm sorry angel. I promise, we'll cuddle on the plane."

"Kay," Dani said as she cuddled further into Beca.

Chloe walked into Micah's room and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed reading a letter. She recognized the handwriting to see that it was Cody. So, she took a step back to lean against the doorframe and cleared her throat, he turned around and wiped the tears from his eyes, "Oh hi Mom, come in." He said.

"You okay?" Chloe asked as she walked into the room.

"I miss him so much." He said folding the letter in fours as she sat next to him.

Chloe wrapped her arms around her son, "I'm sure you do." She said. "I would too if it was your mama."

"I wish that he could be here with us for Bailee's wedding." He said. "I just need him back in my life for good. No military between us. Just him and I. I _need_ him back."

"You or Aunt Bree haven't heard anything?" She asked. He shook his head, "Oh boy."

"You should get ready," he said. "We have to leave in less than an hour."

"Okay love," she said knowing that he didn't want to talk about it any further.

Chloe got up to go get Beca and Dani off the pull out couch leaving Micah in his thoughts. Her only thoughts being that she hopes that Cody is found _safe_ soon.

* * *

When everyone landed in New York, Taylor and Parker were waiting for them. The younger couple had driven up from Boston the night before and they wanted to meet their family at the airport.

"My mom just texted me," Parker said. "They just landed."

"Okay," Taylor said gleefully. She hadn't seen her family since before they found out she was pregnant and she honestly just wanted to hold her brother in her arms tightly at the moment.

"You excited?" Parker asked.

"I am," she nodded. "Are you?"

He nods, "Yeah, it'd be cool to get some gaming time with your brother in." He said wrapping an arm around his wife.

"Did you bring your xbox?" She asked knowingly.

"Of course, why do you think I asked him to get a hotel room for himself? We got some gaming to do." He said. "He's that brother I always wanted." He ended with a shrug.

"You both realize that you two are here for a wedding, right?" Taylor asked turning to wrap her arms around his neck to look at him.

"Corey and his brothers are joining us," Parker said referencing the groom. "That's honestly going to be the bachelor party because we all don't find going out to strip clubs fun."

"Alright then," she said placing her head on his shoulder closing her eyes.

What felt like eternity standing like that, Taylor finally pulled back when she heard, "Aw, isn't this cute," she looked over at her brother who was standing there in a UCLA t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Bubba!" Taylor said releasing her husband to go bear hug her brother.

"Hi sissy." He murmured quietly as Parker greeted the rest of the family.

"How are you doing?" She whispered into his ear.

"I'm okay, how are you doing, mommy-to-be?" He asked.

"A little morning sickness, but nothing I can't handle." She said. They pulled out of their hug and Beca immediately pulled Taylor into another one as Parker greeted Micah, "Hi Mama," she said.

"Hi baby girl," Beca said. "Hi baby," she then said as she crouched down and started talking to Taylor's stomach making the pregnant woman chuckle.

"Hi Mom," she then said to Chloe once Beca got out of the way, so the redhead could hug her properly.

"Hi baby," Chloe said hugging her tight. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm feeling alright, just a little morning sickness. Nothing I can't handle." Taylor answered. "I'm really glad you all are here now."

"Us too, baby." Chloe said kissing her head. "Now go say hi to your aunts and sister."

* * *

Bailee was at Beca and Chloe before she was even at Micah. The female military woman was finally happy that she had a family that loved her.

"Moms!" She said as they walked into the hall where the reception was going to be. "Hi."

"Hi baby." Beca said hugging her first. "How is everything?" She asked as she pulled back and Chloe hugged her..

"I'm good," Bailee pulled back from Chloe's hug. "How was your flight?"

"Bumpy," Beca answered. "But, glad to be here now."

"Yes," Chloe confirmed. "Where is Corey? Would love to give our son-in-law a hug."

"Hi Mitchell-Beale's!" Corey said coming up behind Bailee. "And Junk's and Posen." He added seeing Emily, Parker, Taylor, and Aubrey.

"Hey Corey," Beca said giving the man a hug. "How're things going?" She asked as she pulled away and Chloe hugged him.

"Good," Corey said pulling back giving Micah a fist bump. "How're you doing, bud?" He asked the man.

Micah shrugged, "I'm okay." He said. "Hanging in there."

"Yeah?" Bailee asked placing a hand her brother's shoulder.

Micah nods, "I'm just trying to live life right now, that's what he would want me to do." He said. "Us to do," he then corrected looking over at Aubrey.

Aubrey nodded, "Yeah," she said wrapping her arm around the man's shoulders. "We're doing okay."

"Is there anything we can help with?" Chloe then took the spotlight off of the two.

"No, no." Corey said. "Everything is under control. We were about to head out to grab something to eat. Join us."

"Okay, let's go then." Beca said wrapping her arm around Bailee.

* * *

Micah was tying his tie and looking at himself in the mirror. He was brought back to a moment with Cody.

 _He's tying his tie about ready to head out to his college graduation from UCLA. Cody was home for the summer before going back for his senior year at West Point after spending his first year in the prep school._

 _Cody comes behind the man and wraps his arms around his waist and puts his chin on Micah's shoulder._

 _"Hi love." Micah said._

 _"Hi college grad." Cody said kissing his cheek._

 _Micah chuckled, "I'm not a college grad yet." He said. "I'm glad you're home."_

 _"I would've been here no matter what." Cody said kissed his cheek again. "I love you."_

 _Micah smiled and turned around, resting his forehead on Cody's, "I love you too." He said._

 _Cody slowly started to kiss Micah passionately before pulling away and swaying them back and forth._

Micah starts to shake, he grabbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. He felt arms wrapped around his waist, he opened his eyes to see Aubrey holding him. They were in the room alone together, but she held him close. He calmed down before getting out, "I'm sorry, Aunt Bree."

She shakes her head and pulls him to the bench right behind them, he curled into her, "You don't have to apologize to me, you never have to." She said, "I know what you're feeling to some extent." He placed his head on her shoulder, "It feels like there's a hole in your chest where your heart is supposed to be."

"And every single time the wind blows through, it hurts." He added.

Aubrey nodded, "Yeah." She said. Aubrey's phone then buzzed with an incoming call, they both jumped. She answered it, "He-hello?" Pause. "Ye-yes, this is she." Pause. "Did you find him?" Pause. Micah shot up looking at Aubrey. "Is he-" Pause. Aubrey's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh god." She begins to sob. "Th-thank you. I appreciate it." Pause. "I'm-I'm actually in New York right now, getting ready for my niece's wedding." Pause. Micah stood up and ran his hand through his hair - _knowing what was to come._ "No, it's okay. I'm glad you told me." Pause. "Thank you. I'll see you when I land back in LA. I'll have his fiancé, Micah with me." Pause. "No, no. I'll tell him, thank you." Micah didn't hear her say goodbye, he was already crying. "Micah..."

"He's gone, isn't he?" Micah blunt not looking at his aunt.

Aubrey let out a sob and nodded, "Mhm." She let out. "They found him unconscious and they said that he had been gone for awhile."

"Damnit." He muttered. "Is this some kind of nightmare that I'm gonna wake up from?"

"I wish," Aubrey said, sobbing.

They both cried and then got really quiet as they sat there processing the information. They heard a knock on the door and Micah mumbled _come in_ and Beca and Chloe walked in the room.

The couple looked at the two who were sitting in silence. Aubrey had her face in her hands and Micah had was in the fetal position trying not to cry.

"What's going on?" Beca asked softly.

Chloe took one look at their son and best friend, she saw the phone in Aubrey's hand and how hard they were crying, "They found him, didn't they?" Both of them nodded. "He's-he's gone isn't he?" They both nod and Micah gets up and leaves the room. Both Beca and Chloe look at each other, they had a silent conversation with their eyes. Chloe nodded before kissing her wife and the brunette left the room to go after their son. Chloe stayed behind with Aubrey and went to her best friend's side and took her into her arms. She didn't say anything to the lawyer because there was nothing she could say to help her feel better.

The last thing she thought she would do was talk, "I remember the last conversation that he and I had together," the lawyer got out. Chloe didn't say anything, letting her best friend talk, "he kept telling me that he loved me. Like he knew that it would be our last conversation." Aubrey let out a sob, making Chloe pull her closer. "Oh god, no, no, no."

Chloe began rocking her back and forth, she didn't say anything because she was trying to be comforting. And then the thought came to her, if her best friend felt this way about losing her _son_ , how did _her_ son feel about losing his fiancé?

* * *

Beca caught up with Micah who had gone out onto the beach and found a trash can and was throwing up in it and then he fell to his knees and began crying harder. She immediately went to him and gathered him in her arms. She pulled him into her lap and began rocking the man back and forth whispering, _"it's okay"_ and _"i got you."_ She placed multiple kisses on his temple and held him tight.

He then randomly stood up, "Can I catch a goddamn mother fucking break?!" He yelled before he started to wobble a little, losing his balance. Beca immediately jumped up to catch him and hold him close, " _ma-mama,_ " he whimpered with a voice that she hadn't heard since the first time he let her hold him.

 _Beca was taking out the trash when she heard a sob. She looked over to where it was coming from and she sees Micah standing against the wall trying to pull himself together._

 _"Micah?" She said softly._

 _He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes and clears his throat, "Oh hey, Be- I mean, ma-mama." He said still trying to get used to calling her 'mama' instead of 'Beca.'_

 _"Are you okay?" She asked._

 _He quickly wiped away his tears, "Oh yeah, of course. Just getting some air." He said dismissing his tears._

 _"Hey," she said softly. "You don't have to lie. Talk to me, baby boy."_

 _"I'm just overwhelmed, that's all. And Mom working late isn't helping because she normally holds me." He answered._

 _"You know, I may not be Mom, but I can hold you." She said. "Come on, let's get inside."_

 _Beca led her son inside and to the couch where they both sat, Beca wrapped her arm around him and Micah led his head on her shoulder. Beca felt like she had finally done something right with the boy to get him to trust her so much and enjoyed this moment holding him._

Beca got up and went to him and gathered him in her arms and held him close. She looked down at him, his bow tie untied and his hair messy. She knew that they had to get back into the wedding soon, but she needed to be there for her boy in that moment.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** I know, I _know!_

Who is this determined-or-something monster who doesn't update for _months_ on end and then kills off one of the main characters? I want to play around with Aubrey and Micah's relationship growing stronger because of the grieving process and for them to find themselves in a new way in the grieving process.

Cody will still be in the story via flashbacks and whatnot.


	5. As Time Goes On

**A/n:** Damn, the reviews/support... _so thankful._

Here we go... there is a time jump in this chapter, but don't worry, there'll be flashbacks over the next several chapter to everyone finding out, the funeral, the emotions, etc, etc.

Also something's gonna happen in this chapter that I've been working towards since, _"The Love of Family,"_ so basically yeah.

* * *

 **Chapter Six: As Time Goes On**

 _Six months later..._

Micah was standing in his kitchen on Christmas Eve. It had been a hard six months for both him and Aubrey. He felt himself slowly withdrawing from his family. He ignored their texts and ignored Beca and Emily at work and kept his head down. He was even withdrawing from Aubrey. The lawyer actually hadn't been reaching out to him, so he figured that she's probably withdrawing too.

Dani came out of her bedroom dressed to go into the office because she was in the middle of a big project and sees her brother slowly drinking coffee looking out of their kitchen window staring out at the city, "Did you make enough coffee for me?" She asked not looking at him, he nodded. "Cool, thanks." She stared at him as she went to get her to-go mug and poured her coffee only looking away to make sure she wasn't spilling the pot everywhere. When she put the pot back down and looked away to screw on the top, she said, "So, we're hosting Christmas Eve this year." Micah took a small sip of coffee while adjusting his glasses with the other hand. "Micah?" She finally said loud enough to get his attention.

"Hmm, what?" He said turning around looking at her.

"Did you hear what I just said?" She asked.

He sighed and looked back out the window, "Yeah, you just asked me if I made enough coffee for the both of us. The answer is still yes." He said.

"No, I meant after that, about us hosting Christmas Eve? I think since Nana and Mama's parents are in town Moms are bringing them too." She said.

He sighed, "Okay," he said.

"What did I just say?" Dani asked picking up her messenger bag and putting it over her shoulder.

"Moms, Nana, and Mama's parents are coming over tonight, we're hosting Christmas Eve," he said. "I'm not a kid, you don't have to treat me as such."

Dani sighed, "I'm sorry bubba." She said. "I know it must be a hard time for you, but please don't shut me out. I want to be here for you. Like you promised me the night of Bailee's wedding when you told me?"

 _Micah had slipped out after giving a speech at the wedding with a glass of scotch to get some fresh air. He wasn't sure how he got through the ceremony and most of the reception. He did notice his moms looking at him a little closer than usual, but he went back into his old ways of dealing with a problem for the sake of his sister by suppressing his pain down, putting it on the shelf._

 _He then whispered into the air, "Goddamn you, Cody Posen."_

 _He wasn't expecting to hear anything in response, especially from a softer voice, "What did C.A.P. do now?"_

 _Micah turned around to see Dani standing their in her bridesmaid dress with a glass of wine in her hand, she came up next to him and looked out onto the New York City skyline with him. It was quiet for awhile before he answered by choking out, "They found him."_

 _Dani straightened up, "Is he-"_

 _"Dead?" He finished shakily. "Yes."_

 _"Oh bubba," Dani said wrapping an arm around him. "I'm so sorry."_

 _"I was gonna marry him." He said. "I was gonna marry him."_

 _"I know," she said with her arm tightly around him. They stood in somewhat of a silence for awhile before Dani spoke up, "Promise me that you won't shut me out. That as we all grieve, that you'll always come to me. Even if you show up to United Justice and just want to sit on my office couch to be with someone that you will." They made eye contact for the first time since Dani came out. "Promise me, bubba."_

 _He nodded, "I'll do my best." He said._

 _Dani gave a weak smile, "That's all I ask." She said._

"I know," Micah said weakly. "I know, but I just need time to myself, that's all."

"Okay," she said understandingly, "but that doesn't mean that we aren't hosting people tonight. So figure out how to process and heal, okay? And reach out to Aunt Bree, I don't want her alone right now. I know Aunt Em has been with her, but I _really_ don't want her to be alone right now."

She walked up to her brother and gave him a kiss on the cheek before walking out the door, Micah then turned back to the window to look out over the city of Los Angeles. He took a deep breath and then pulled his phone out of his pajama pants, pushing the home button down, "Siri, call Aunt Bree."

* * *

Aubrey was sitting on the couch in Dani and Micah's apartment with him sitting right next to her. She was over because she was going to join the Mitchell-Beale family madness and Emily was going to join them later. She had her head on the young music producer's shoulder as he plays a video game with Parker who was in Boston. He had an arm around her while playing with the controller in hand. She then buried her face into his neck, trying not to think about how much she missed her son.

Emily then came into the apartment with Dani to help her cook dinner. The older music producer stopped and stared at the two grieving people on the couch. This was their first Christmas without Cody and she was concerned. The two took the news the hardest as expected, but they also didn't say much after the summer had passed.

Emily would go over to Aubrey's home or work to make sure she was eating and she would go into Micah's office or recording session to just to offer some moral support. She sighed as she watched the lawyer curl into the younger music producer before walking into the kitchen with Dani.

"You bummed that Parker and Taylor can't make it out?" Dani asked as she placed the bag down.

"I mean, only a little, I understand though, Taylor is due any day now, I wouldn't want to risk it being over 30,000 miles above the ground either." Emily said. "I just told Parker that your moms and I are on the first flight out of her when the baby is born."

"I can't believe they're having twins," Dani said. "A boy and a girl, I'm gonna be one proud aunt, that's for damn sure." Emily chuckled and then looked over into the living room where Micah and Aubrey still sat and sighed a little, "What's wrong, Aunt Em?" The engineer asked and then looked where she was looking, "Oh yeah, I'm worried about them too."

"They've done Christmas without Cody before, but this is different. They're won't be any skype calls from him this year."

Emily nodded, "Yeah and I'm so worried. Neither one of them are really talking anymore." She said.

Dani thought about the scene that happened in the kitchen that morning and decided to share, "Micah stands at that window every morning," she began pointing to the window, "watches the sunrise, slowly drinks coffee, and tunes out the world. I try to get inside his head, but I'm losing hope."

"I'm beginning to lose hope too," Emily said. "I'm hoping that once your moms get here that everything will be fine. They have their way of loving on your brother like I do with Aubrey."

Dani began pulling food out of the bag, "What's going on between you two?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked.

"I mean, you two are practically married without even being together." Dani said.

"What?" Emily asked confused.

"I don't mean that in a bad way, I'm just saying, you two are giving me weird vibes. Like sometimes I wonder if you two are secretly together and aren't telling anyone." She said.

Emily looked at her niece and then to her friend that is being held by her nephew on the couch and then looked back at her niece suddenly feeling things that she hadn't noticed over the years for the lawyer in the next room.

* * *

Beca had her arm around Chloe's chair at dinner that night, Christmas Eve had been in full swing for over an hour and they were all eating around the dinner table. The music producer was currently staring at their son who wasn't really apart of any conversation and was more focused on eating than anything else. Beca tilted her head a little and then decided on something, she picked up her glass of wine and proceeded to get everyone's attention, "If I can have everyone's attention please." Everyone stopped mid-conversation and looked at Beca, excluding Micah. "I wanted to make some sort of toast."

Beca clears her throat, "It hasn't been an easy year for our family," she started. "In fact, this ranks up with some of the worst years of our life, but I'm really glad we're all here gathered around the table as family tonight." She looks at Micah who is staring at his half empty plate. "I know this can't be easy for Micah and Aubrey." She said then looking over at the lawyer who was staring softly at her. "Which is why we wanted everyone to be here," she then looked at Emily who shrugged, "but with Parker and Taylor due any day now and Bailee being with Corey's family for Christmas, we're glad to have Mama and Senator Beale here with us," she said gesturing to the woman and man sitting on the other side of her wife. "And of course it's great to have my family here," gesturing to her other side where her parents and brother were sitting. "And as hard as I know it is, I want to honor Cody here. He was honestly like another son to us and it's a real blow to the Mitchell-Beale slash Posen family." She took a deep breath and looked over at her son who was now looking at her curiously, "It sucks, but I'm sure Cody is up there playing golf with Pop pop and we're all still down here grieving." She raised her wine glass to the ceiling, "We miss you both."

After her speech, Chloe put her head on her shoulder as the conversations picked back up again, the vice principal whispered, "Thank you for that."

Beca kissed her forehead and said, "Of course, my love."

* * *

Emily was standing out on the balcony with a glass of wine in her hand when she heard the door open, she looked over her shoulder and saw Aubrey coming out, "Hey Bree." Emily said. "You okay?"

The lawyer nodded, "Are you?" She asked with a soft voice.

Emily looked back out to the LA skyline leaning against the balcony, messing with her wine glass, "Just thinking, that's all." She answered.

"What are you thinking about?" Aubrey sat down on the swing that Micah and Dani had out on their balcony putting the blanket over her lap.

Emily looked back over at Aubrey and then went to go sit next to her under the blanket, "You and I have been through a lot, y'know?" Aubrey places her head on the music producer's shoulder and nodded slowly. "And Dani asked me an interesting question tonight before everyone got here."

"What was that?" Aubrey asked.

"She asked what was going on between us because we're practically married without even being together." Emily answered before taking a sip of her wine glass. "And then it got me thinking about how she's right."

Aubrey chuckled, "She really is." She responded.

"Then feelings started coming," the younger woman said. "Feelings that I've only really felt for Benji."

Aubrey looked up at her, "Really?" She asked.

"Yeah and I know you're a grieving mother and this is lame for me to even be saying this, but yeah, feelings are there and I know there's no way you could ever have those same feelings-"

"Emily..." Aubrey tried with an amused smile of the woman's ramblings.

"-like I know I've been lying next to you at night holding you every single night for the past six months-"

"Em..." Aubrey tried again.

"-but you're still grieving and I don't ever want to take advantage of you in that state but like-"

Aubrey then stops her mid-sentence by kissing her softly on the mouth, "Emily, the feelings are mutual."

"Really?" Emily said still shocked about the fact that Aubrey had just kissed her.

Aubrey nodded, "I have for a long time, but I didn't think that there was anyway that you could've had those same feelings for me." She said. "So I took advantage of you holding me for the last six months or so because if that was the closest I could be to you, than I would take that over confessing my feelings for you to you."

"So what does this mean now?" She asked.

"I think like Micah and Cody and Taylor and Parker, we should take some time to figure if this is going to work out before we shout it from the rooftops." Aubrey said. "And you're right, I am still grieving, but grieving with you around to take care of me is better than doing it alone."

Emily pulled Aubrey closer, "Even if I just admitted to you that I had feelings for you and you didn't feel the same way, doesn't mean you're getting rid of me that quickly, Posen." She said.

Aubrey looked up at Emily again and slowly kissed her again before placing her head on the music producer's chest, "Thank you for taking care of me." She whispered.

"I know if this were Parker, you'd do the same thing for me." Emily said kissing the top of her head.

* * *

The next morning, Christmas moved to the Mitchell-Beale home as Bailee and Corey surprised the family late Christmas Eve. While Beca and Chloe were ecstatic to have their oldest child home, they were still feeling the void of not having Parker and Taylor there - Emily was too.

The three crowded around a laptop around noon California time to talk to their babies that were spending their first married Christmas alone.

 _"Parker is making a small dinner and we're just lounging around on the couch watching Netflix, babies are kicking like crazy." Taylor said. "We miss the family though."_

"It's fine," Beca said, "you know Mom, Aunt Em, Aunt Bree, and I will be on the first flight out when we hear your water breaks."

 _"Yes, I know, Mama." Taylor said. "Have you two decided on names yet?"_

"I kind of want Nana," Chloe said. "Mama is still bouncing around names in her head though. Your kids are the defining factors of our names."

 _Parker chuckled, "What about you, Ma?" He asked Emily. "You sure you want Grandma?"_

Emily nodded, "I do." She said.

 _"Okay then," he said._

 _"How're Micah and Aunt Bree doing?" Taylor asked. "Micah isn't answering my texts and Aunt Bree's are short."_

"They're doing okay," Chloe said. "I think once the holidays are over they'll be doing better. I think they're just trying to get through, but don't worry between the three of us are getting the both of them through it."

 _"Oka- woah." Taylor got out._

"Are you okay baby girl?" Beca said jumping into her protective mama bear mode.

 _"Tay, you're water just broke." Parker said with wide eyes._

"What?" The three moms said at once.

 _"Okay, it's okay," Parker said clearly freaking out. "We'll get you to the hospital, no biggie. Also," he said looking at the three mothers, "Fly out tomorrow, okay? Enjoy Christmas, alright?"_

"But-" the three mothers tried to get out.

 _"Enjoy your Christmas," he said softly yet firmly. "Especially with Bailee and Corey there, okay?" The three moms nodded, "We love you." He said as his wife was in discomfort._

The FaceTime call disconnected and the three moms sat back and took a deep breath, finally Chloe broke the silence, "We're gonna be grandmas."

Beca chuckled as Emily said, "I better call Benji, Parker probably won't."

The younger woman got up and walked out the backdoor to call her ex, Beca and Chloe looked out softly as she took a deep breath and dialed Benji's number.

* * *

 _"Emily?" Benji answered surprised. "Uh Merry Christmas."_

Emily softly smiled, "Merry Christmas, Benji." She said softly.

 _"What's up? Everything okay?" Benji asked._

"Taylor's in labor." She said as she heard the backdoor open, she looked over her shoulder to see Aubrey standing there. "I thought you should know because Parker is a little preoccupied."

 _"Oh, okay," the man said. "When are you, Beca, and Chloe flying out?"_

Aubrey took Emily's hand and led her to the other side of the house so that no one can see them as the music producer answered, "Parker told us to enjoy our Christmas and fly out tomorrow. I can buy your ticket to fly out with us and you can just pay me back?"

 _"Yeah of course, definitely would love to meet my grandchildren when they're first born." He said._

Emily pulled Aubrey into a hug to rest in her chest as she answered, "Okay, I'll see what Beca and Chloe are going to do and text your the details." She said.

 _"Okay, thank you Emily." He said. "I appreciate the phone call."_

Emily smiled softly, "You have a right to know before anything happens." She said.

They said their goodbyes and Emily hung up and then wrapped her arms tighter around Aubrey, "Beca and Chloe told us." She said. "Then they said you were out here letting Benji know and I thought that I could be here for moral support."

Emily looked at Aubrey and slowly kissed her, "Thanks babe." She said. "You're coming out with us, right?"

The lawyer nodded, "Of course, my goddaughter is having babies. I wouldn't miss the opportunity to be with them for the world." She said. "Besides, I would miss you too much."

Emily smiled and kissed her girlfriend again, "You're something else, you know that?" She said.

"I do," Aubrey said. "I know we said we should wait until we figure out if this is gonna work to shout it from the rooftops, but I _really_ want to tell at least Beca and Chloe."

"Yeah?" The music producer said.

The lawyer shrugs a shoulder, "I mean, they're our best friends, they deserve to know before everybody else, right?" She asked.

Emily kissed Aubrey again and the two then walked back inside the house.

* * *

"Dude," Beca said to Aubrey and Emily when the day started to wind down, "what's going on between you two?"

"Bec," Chloe said slightly shoving her wife's shoulder for being so blunt.

Aubrey and Emily were cuddled on the couch and had been whispering to each other for the better part of the last half an hour and then they smiled at each other, and then they sat up straighter, "There's something that we wanted to talk to you two about." Emily said.

Beca and Chloe sit up and tilt there heads a little, "What's up?" Chloe asked softly.

"We're together," Emily blurted out.

"Yeah and?" Beca said making her wife and friends look at her weird. "I mean, I thought you've been together for years just didn't want anyone to know."

"Well, we've officially been together for 24 hours," Aubrey said. "And we aren't ready for the world to know yet, but we thought our best friends deserved to know while we're figuring things out."

Chloe smiled and said, "Well, I'm glad you trust us."

Beca nodded, "Yes, your secret is safe with us." She said.

Aubrey and Emily smiled and nodded before Emily kissed the side of Aubrey's head. The other couple smiling as Chloe cuddled into Beca.

* * *

When the Mitchell-Beale's, Aubrey, Emily, and Benji landed in Boston the following day, they couldn't contain there excitement. They were all surrounding the bed, Micah was off to the corner, but could still see his niece and nephew.

"What are their names?" Chloe asked.

"Well her name is Ryan Hope," Parker said. "I've always liked that name since I was little," Emily nodded in confirmation.

"And his name is Daniel Adam," Taylor said, making Micah pop his head up. "In honor of Cody." Before Aubrey adopted him, his name was Cody Daniel Adams, both the lawyer and the youngest music producer in the room locked watery eyes at the honor.

"And when he's older, we'll tell him all about Uncle Cody and how he served this nation with great pride," Parker said.

Micah moved closer to the bed on the other side of Chloe, "Do you want to hold him?" Taylor asked Micah, who nodded his head fervently. Parker put the boy into his brother-in-law's arms. Micah rocked him back and forth being instantly taken back to the moment the he told Parker and Taylor about Cody's death.

 _"You seem tense," Taylor said as the boys were playing video games after the wedding. "Everything okay?" She asked her brother rubbing his shoulders._

 _Micah just broke down crying and sobbed out a no and Parker paused the game and put an arm around him, "What's wrong bro?" The journalist asked._

 _"They-they-they found him." Micah said. "They found him dead."_

 _Parker and Taylor looked over at each other and took a deep breath and Taylor took her brother into her arms and held him for awhile and looked at Parker, that's where the both quietly decided to honor one of their children after Cody._

"He's got such big blue eyes," Micah said as the baby looked up at him. "Like Mom."

"Yeah," Taylor said, "so does Ryan. Somehow I'm thinking these two are gonna have us wrapped around their fingers." She looked at her husband, "Ryan especially with Parker. She's already such a daddy's girl."

Parker shrugged, "What can I say? It's my charm." He said making everybody laugh.

Micah stared down at Daniel and for the first time since Cody left for his deployment, he felt rather safe.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** I feel like that was a lot, I mean, it's how I planned it out, but writing it makes it feel like a lot.

 _I'm sorry for killing off Cody. I promise, it'll be worth it!_

Until next time, folks...


	6. The Way Life Goes

**A/n:** Thank you all so much for your support!

* * *

 **Chapter Six: The Way Life Goes**

Beca was in her office with a killer headache, the best thing should could do at this point was just lie down, so there she was lying down on the couch with her face buried in one of the couch pillows trying not to cry knowing that just makes her head hurt even more. It was a borderline migraine and she doesn't get these very often and when she did get them, all it took was heavy medication and a back and neck rub from Chloe and she usually felt better. She had the former of the two, but the latter of the two was at some conference in San Diego with a bunch of other educators, so she only felt half-okay.

There was a knock on the office door and Beca groaned before calling out, "Come in."

Emily opened the door and noticed that the blinds were drawn and that Beca was lying on the couch with a pillow over her face, "Migraine?" The woman asked softly. Beca nodded, "Should I call Chloe?"

"She's in San Diego at a conference." Beca mumbled.

"Want me to get Micah?" She asked knowing he was her second best option. "He's in his office right now." Beca nodded, needing her son.

Emily walked out of the room and a few minutes later, Micah came in with a soft voice, "Mama, you okay?"

"C'mere baby boy." Beca mumbled lifting her head so he can sit down. The man sat down and his mama place her face in his lap, he ran soothing fingers through her hair, scratching it every so often. "Thank you baby," she mumbled as he kissed the back of her head.

"Of course, Mama." He said. "How about I come over tonight? I'll make you dinner and take care of you since Mom's outta town."

Beca turned to look at her son and smiled, "I'd really like that," she murmured.

* * *

Emily had Aubrey pinned against the wall and was kissing her. They hadn't had sex for the first time yet, but their make out sessions were getting intense. They were at Emily's condo and Aubrey had been making the two of them dinner, the music producer wrapped her arms around the lawyer and started kissing up and down her neck. Aubrey then turn the stove on low and turned around and wrapped her arms around the younger woman's neck and smiled and kissed her back.

Aubrey moaned as Emily kissed her neck, "You're gonna be the end of me, woman." The lawyer groaned.

Emily continued to kiss up and down her neck, "Yeah?" She said between kisses then grabbed Aubrey's ass and lifted her off the ground and the lawyer wrapped her legs around the music producer's waist.

"Oh baby," Aubrey moaned. "I gotta finish making dinner."

Emily put her down and the lawyer turned back around and continued cooking, "Sorry, this just feels way too domestic." The music producer said. "In fact, the last time I've done this was with Benji before he broke up with me."

Emily turned away to the other side of the kitchen, feeling somewhat insecure, Aubrey sensed that and turned around, "Sweetheart, hey. You're okay." She said coming up to her. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I know that," she said. "This is stupid."

"What you're feeling isn't stupid, honey." Aubrey said. "What you're feeling is real and valid."

"I've never felt so strongly about anyone like I do with you, not even Benji." She said.

Aubrey came up behind her and pulled her into her arms, "I think that's what they call love." The lawyer said.

"We've only been together for a month." Emily said.

"But, like Beca and Dani keep telling us, we were together without being together for years." Aubrey said.

Emily leaned back into Aubrey arms, "You should finish cooking dinner," she said. "I'll get the wine."

"We aren't done talking about this," Aubrey said as Emily stepped away to get the wine.

* * *

 _"Thank you for taking care of Mama, baby boy." Chloe said over the phone._

"Of course," he said stirring the pasta in the pan. "She rarely gets migraines, so this sucks that she has one when you're away."

 _"Yeah," Chloe said. "I was gonna surprise her tomorrow, but if she doesn't feel good now." It was quiet for a moment and then a door opened._

"Mom?" Micah said turning around seeing the redhead come in from the garage door.

"Yeah," Chloe said. "I couldn't be away knowing that she wasn't feeling okay, the conference ended this afternoon, I wanted to surprise her tomorrow, sleep tonight after a long conference, but once she texted me that she wasn't feeling well, I had to get home tonight."

Micah hugged his mom, "Is it cool if I still stick around and help you take care of her? I kinda need some mamas time." He said. "Even if we _are_ taking care of Mama."

"Of course baby." Chloe said kissing his cheek. "I could use all the help I can get. Where is she?"

"She's lying down in your guys' room." He said. "I'll finish dinner and bring up three bowls and we can eat up there."

"Thank you baby," Chloe said. "I love you."

"I love you too, Mom." He said as she headed up the stairs to surprise her wife.

Chloe quietly opened up the bedroom door to see that her wife had her face buried in the pillow, she let out a small pout, before softly saying, "Beca baby?"

Beca slowly turned to face her wife, "You're home early," she said.

"Yeah," Chloe said coming closer to her. "I was gonna surprise you tomorrow, but as soon as I heard that you didn't feel good, I was on the five on my way back home."

"I love you beautiful," Beca mumbles.

"I love you too sweetheart," she said kicking off her shoes. "How about I spoon you for awhile, baby boy is bringing us all up dinner."

"I like that." The music producer said.

"He also did say he's in the need for some mamas time, so he's gonna be staying helping me take care of you." She said.

"I like that," Beca mumbled as Chloe spooned her from behind.

"What's got you stressed babe?" Chloe asked.

"Tommy Levit," she mumbled.

"Wait, what? I thought you terminated his contract and you were done with him?" Chloe said.

"He's suing us." Beca mumbled. "Emily and I are working with the lawyers right now, so Micah doesn't know."

"Oh baby." She said as she felt her wife shake.

"I have dinner," Micah gently calls out as as Beca turned into bury her face into Chloe's chest. The vice principal scratching the music producer's scalp knowing that it helps.

"Thank you baby boy," Chloe softly said. "Beca honey, can you sit up and try and eat?" Beca slowly sits up, but her head doesn't leave Chloe's shoulder while she ate, "After dinner, I'm gonna get her into the tub." She said to Micah.

"Yeah, that'll give me enough time to clean up the kitchen," Micah said softly.

"Okay and then afterwards, you can come back up here and we can all cuddle," Chloe said.

"Mom said that you're in need of some mamas time," Beca said softly. "Are you okay love?"

Micah's head fell, "I just- I just am missing Cody a lot today." He said. "It's his adoption birthday, Aunt Bree would always make a big deal about it and I just- I just miss him."

"Oh baby," Beca said slowly getting up and then quickly regretting it with her head.

"Bec, move slowly, okay?" Chloe said as Beca moved towards their son.

Beca gathered him in her arms, like she's done most times that she's seen him since Cody's disappearance, Chloe moved too, needing to hold her son almost as much as her wife. The three stay like that for awhile, not saying anything.

* * *

Emily was sitting on the couch after dinner with Aubrey tucked into her side. The music producer _knew_ what today was, so she felt bad for her insecurities rising up earlier.

"I'm sorry about earlier," Emily said. "Today's gotta be hard enough for you."

Aubrey looked up at Emily and kissed her, "You have _no idea_ how happy you make me, baby." The lawyer said. "Being able to wake up next to you knowing that my son is- is gone, but you're _always_ here. You have no idea how much you make me happy. I'm _not_ Benji. I'm not going to walk away when things get hard or when I find someone else. I know it's only been a few months, but I feel like _you're the one._ No one else, I've had feelings for you _for years_ and I just want _you._ " Emily looked down into her wine glass with a tear falling down her face, "Hey," the lawyer said moving to straddle her, "Talk to me," she said softly.

"I'm just sorry that I'm so insecure," she said. "I feel like I could be better for you."

"You're the best," Aubrey said. "Don't let the past stop you from receiving what I have to give you." The lawyer takes the wine glass out of her girlfriend's hands and put it on the table next to the couch. The blonde then begins to kiss the brunette's neck. "I'd like to think that I have a lot to give."

Emily placed her hand on Aubrey's hips and caressed the lawyer's sides, "I know it's still early on in our relationship," the music producer said, "but I love you."

Aubrey smiled against Emily's neck, "I love you too honey." She responded.

* * *

It was Monday morning and Beca was back in the office, she spent all weekend in bed with a migraine. Emily and the company lawyers in the conference room as the Mitchell-Beale stands looking out the window, nursing a cup of coffee.

"This is ridiculous," Emily said. "It sounds like he's really wanting to sue Micah and not Legacy Records."

"Well," the female lawyer said, "he is suing Micah via Legacy Records."

"Why?" Emily said, getting protective of her nephew. "He _did nothing_ wrong."

"We understand that, but Mr. Levit is under the impression that Micah had you two terminate his contract." The lawyer said.

"He didn't," Beca said with her back turned. "We terminated Tommy's contract like we would've done for any other producer that a client gave a hard time." She turned around, "Because that's what we sign artists and bands here as, _clients._ "

"It looks like you gave Micah an easy way out," the male lawyer said, "because he's your adoptive son."

"He's _just_ my son," Beca said grabbing the conference chair in front of her, "yes, almost ten years ago, my wife and I adopted him, but he's _just_ our son."

"I'm sorry, Beca." The male lawyer said. "But the point still remains on the table."

"My son is one of the best senior producers we have here," Beca defended.

"He also got the job because he's your son." The male lawyer said.

"So we can't hire people because they have a good solid ear?" Beca asked. "Because last time I checked, Micah Mitchell-Beale made Brandon Leaf a grammy award winner. He's a grammy award winning producer himself, one of the _youngest ones_ at that. We didn't give him that grammy. Yes, we gave him the job, but he worked his _ass_ off and is dealing with one of the biggest losses that anyone could _ever_ face."

"You're protective," the male lawyer said.

"No _fucking_ shit," Beca said. "He's my son. We're paying _you_ to protect _him_ and you're currently doing a shitty job."

"Okay, okay," Emily said. "Why don't we take a break? I'll help Beca cool off, you two can just go back to your offices upstairs and I'll have my assistant come up and get you when we're ready." The two lawyers nod and gather up their things before leaving to go back to their offices. Emily turns to Beca who had turned back around and was looking out the window of downtown Los Angeles, "Wanna tell me what the _fuck_ that was about?" Emily asked bluntly once the door clicked close.

Beca sighed and turned around, "Sorry," she mumbled. "I get protective of my kids."

Emily sighed, she _knew_ that, she was always watches in awe when Beca stepped into full mama bear mode, she smiled remembering the day that Dani came into the office after her first day of her senior year crying because some kid made fun of her for going into an anxiety attack in the middle of class.

 _It was rare that Dani came into Legacy Records crying, she was long passed her days of bottling up her feelings inside, and as soon as Emily saw her, she knew something was wrong._

 _"Hi honey," Emily said to her niece, "you okay?"_

 _Dani shook her head and then said, "Is- is my mama here?"_

 _Emily nodded and wrapped her arm around the girl, "She's in a session, but I'll get Sarah to go get her out and I'll stay with you until she gets to you." The aunt said to her niece. She kissed the teenager's forehead. "Hey Sarah?" She then said to Beca's assistant._

 _"Go get Beca?" The assistant said softly seeing Dani. Emily nodded, "Of course."_

 _"Let her know that we'll be in her office," Emily said pulling Dani closer to her. Sarah nodded as the aunt guided her niece into Beca's office, sitting them both on the couch, holding Dani close as the teenager continued to cry. Emily kissed the girl's head every so often. "I got you honey, I got you."_

 _It took another fifteen minutes before Beca came walking into her office, the teenager tucked into Emily's side didn't move, as Beca shut the door and sat on the coffee table in front of the two, Emily saw her business partner immediately step into that soft mama that only her family got to see._

 _"What's going on, princess?" Beca asked softly._

 _It was quiet for a long time, "I'm just so tired of being made fun of," she finally mumbled._

 _"Who's making fun of you baby?" Beca asked as Emily placed a kiss on the girl's forehead._

 _"This kid in my advanced trig class." She mumbled._

 _"Why is he making fun of you?" Beca asked, now stepping into full mama bear mode._

 _"Because I was triggered into this panic attack," Dani said crying. "He said that I was using it as a crutch."_

 _The anger visibly boiled in Beca and Emily was suddenly glad that she stayed and that Dani wasn't paying attention, the younger music producer gave the older one a look, to calm her down, that her anger wouldn't help in this situation._

 _Beca took a deep breath, silently counted to ten, "Princess, can you look at Mama right now?" She asked softly. Dani looks over at her mama, "You aren't using it as crutch, what you're feeling is real and valid, okay? I know it doesn't feel that way, but I PROMISE you that's the truth."_

 _"I feel like I'm going crazy mama," she said._

 _"I know princess," she said softly, but the anger still evident._

 _Emily could see it, Dani was oblivious to it. That's when Emily realized how protective Beca Mitchell-Beale was of her children._

"I know you get protective Bec," Emily said, "but you can't snap at our lawyers because of it."

Beca sat down and put her head in her hands, "I don't know what to do anymore." She said. "I can't protect him."

Emily sat down next to Beca and put her hand gently on hers, "He already came to you pretty broken," she said. "And then you and Chloe loved on him _a lot_ and you two protected him, but he's currently in two situations both in which you can't fix, so you feel like you're failing him." Beca nodded. "The lawyers can fix the Tommy Levit situations, we have the best lawyers in the business. The whole Cody situation, nobody can fix. We just have to continue to be there for him when he needs us."

Beca sighed and then took a deep breath, "You're right," she said. "When did you become so smart?"

Emily shrugged, "I still have a lot of my own shit to work out, but dating Aubrey and falling into love for the first time in a long time has really helped." She said making Beca smile a small smile.

* * *

Dani was standing in front of her moms' front door with a lip between her teeth, she was in one of those downward spiral times that she hadn't been since high school and now she just needed her just her mom, normally in these situations she went to Beca, but for some reason she needed her mommy in this situation. She took a deep breath and open the door while knocking.

"Mom?" She called out.

Chloe poked her head around the corner and saw her youngest and immediately knew what was wrong, "I'll go get your mama." She said.

"No, no, I actually wanted you." She said. "I mean, if that's okay and you're not busy."

"I'm never too busy for you, angel." She said. "C'mere." She added with arms wide open. Dani went straight into her mom's arms and Chloe walked them to the couch where the engineer kicked off her shoes and curled into her mom's side, "Talk when you're ready, lovey."

"I think I'm working too much," she mumbled. "I feel it in the tension of my shoulders. I just needed my mommy, that's all."

"Okay well, I'm right here, not going anywhere." The mother said.

There was a long time of silence where Dani was just playing with the strings of Chloe's sweatshirt, the vice principal was just waiting for the engineer to speak and when she did, the redhead wasn't expecting the words to come out of the mini version of her wife.

After a shaky deep breath, "I ran into Adam again today..."

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** I _knoooww_. A cliffhanger after killing off a minor major character? Did determined-or-something's mother not love her enough when she was a kid?

The answer to that question is: yes, she did.

Sometimes I just wanna keep you readers on your toes.

 _Also, go back and read the beginning-ish of The Love of Family if you don't remember who Adam is._


	7. Mama Can't Protect Them Forever

**A/n:** Uggh, the angst is real in chapter. _Sorry._ Been in a real angsty mood, the holidays always put me in some sort of funk.

Enjoy!

 **Trigger warning:** **implied rape**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven: Mama Can't Protect Them Forever**

 _"Mom?" She called out._

 _Chloe poked her head around the corner and saw her youngest and immediately knew what was wrong, "I'll go get your mama." She said._

 _"No, no, I actually wanted you." She said. "I mean, if that's okay and you're not busy."_

 _"I'm never too busy for you, angel." She said. "C'mere." She added with arms wide open. Dani went straight into her mom's arms and Chloe walked them to the couch where the engineer kicked off her shoes and curled into her mom's side, "Talk when you're ready, lovey."_

 _"I think I'm working too much," she mumbled. "I feel it in the tension of my shoulders. I just needed my mommy, that's all."_

 _"Okay well, I'm right here, not going anywhere." The mother said._

 _There was a long time of silence where Dani was just playing with the strings of Chloe's sweatshirt, the vice principal was just waiting for the engineer to speak and when she did, the redhead wasn't expecting the words to come out of the mini version of her wife._

 _After a shaky deep breath, "I ran into Adam again today..."_

Chloe takes a shaky deep breath, silently cursing herself for not pushing the lawyer for that permanent restraining order, "Okay, are _you_ okay, my love?" She asked softly.

The name hadn't come up since the trial, every year around the time it happened, Beca and Chloe made sure to be around Dani to make sure she was okay, but after years of on again, off again therapy, Dani was in a better spot, "I want to be," the engineer answered, "but I'm honestly not okay."

Chloe pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head, "Do you want me to get Mama?" She asked.

"Kind of," Dani answered, "but you're really warm right now."

Chloe chuckled and leaned forward to the coffee table to grab her phone, she called Beca's phone, "Hey baby?" Pause. "Can you come up here?" Pause. "The living room, Dani's here and she needs you." Beat. "Okay." She hung up, "She's coming up angel."

It was silent minus the footsteps off in the distance and Beca poked her head in to see the mother-daughter cuddle session on the couch, she went to the other side of Dani and the engineer cuddled into her mama while holding her mom's hand. Beca kissed the top of her daughter's head, "What's going on, princess?" The music producer asked. "You okay?" Dani shook her head, "Wanna tell me what's going on inside that beautiful head of yours?"

"I- I ran into Adam today." Dani said making Beca tense. "I- I was at the bank making a deposit and he was there too, he came up to me to- to _apologize_ or whatever." She mumbled.

"What?" Beca got out, Chloe put her hand on her wife's shoulder to calm her down. "Are you okay?" The music producer asked softly.

"I mean, _no_." She said. "No, I'm not."

"What can we do to help baby?" Chloe asked, stroking the back of Dani's hand with her thumb.

"Let me be in the bubble of denial," Dani said. "That tonight, you two protect me from the horrors of the world. I'm 22, I know, but I just need a break from life for awhile."

Beca nodded immediately, "We can do that, princess." She said. "I'll go get dinner and you cuddle with Mom, okay?" Dani nodded as Beca kissed the top of her head and put her back in Chloe's arms. The mama got up and kissed Chloe softly as the redhead held the engineer close. "I'mma go get Chinese food and ice cream."

"Okay," Chloe said kissing her wife again. "Love you."

"Love you too, baby." Beca said. "Love you princess."

"Love you too, Mama." Dani mumbled. "Thank you."

Beca kissed Dani's head once more, she was always more protective of the engineer since she revealed what Adam did to her and it wasn't stopping because eight years had passed.

When it was just Chloe and Dani, the mom held her youngest daughter close, "What's going through your head, baby?"

"I thought I was fine," she mumbled. "I thought- I thought-" she begins to hyperventilate going into a panic attack.

"Hey, hey." Chloe said. Dani was still hyperventilating unable to breathe, she does this despite Chloe's protests for her to breathe before passing out after a few minutes. "Beca!" She called out. Beca poked her head back into the room and saw that her girl passed out and wasn't breathing in her wife's arms.

* * *

Micah knocked on Emily's door knowing that Aubrey was there because being in her apartment was hard without Cody. Emily came to the door and slowly opened it, "Oh hi Micah." She said.

"Hi," Micah said hesitantly. "I'm sorry for barging over like this. I just- I just shouldn't be alone right now and my moms and Dani aren't picking up their phones.

Emily reached out to gently put a hand on his face, "You're always welcome here, bub." She said. "Come in, come in."

Micah walked in and saw Aubrey watching tv half asleep on the couch, "Aubrey?" Emily said softly waking her up, "Micah's here."

Aubrey sat up, "Hi bub," she said. "You okay?" He stood at the entryway to the room, twisting his hands, with his head hanging, not saying anything. "Hey," the lawyer said softly. "It's okay. C'mere." The younger music producer had a lip between his teeth as Emily gently pushed him towards Aubrey. The man goes over to his aunt and then curls into her. The lawyer kissed the top of his head, "I know," she said. "I miss him too."

Micah's phone buzzed and he takes it out of his pocket and saw that it was Chloe calling him, "Hi Mommy," he murmured as Aubrey kissed his head.

 _"H-h-hi baby boy." Chloe got out. "Uh, there's- there's been a problem."_

Micah sat up, Aubrey sat up with him to rub his back, "What's the problem?" He asked.

 _"Your sister went into a major panic attack and passed out and stopped breathing," she said. "We're-"_

"What hospital?" Micah asked knowingly.

 _"UCLA Medical Center." She got out._

"Okay, I'm with Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily now, we'll head over, okay?" Micah said calmly.

 _"Ok-kaay." She said._

They said their goodbyes and then hung up, "Dani had a really bad panic attack and stopped breathing." He said knowing that his aunts are looking at him.

"Okay," Aubrey said. "Why don't we get going?" Micah became stiff, "How about I drive?" Micah nodded. "Em honey, can you help our nephew to my car?"

Emily nodded and put her arm around his back and got him going, not ignoring the fact that her girlfriend just called her honey in front of their nephew that they still haven't told that they were together. The music producer got her nephew employee into the back of Aubrey's car, he was less stiff now and grabbed the earphones out of his pocket to listen to music. Emily slipped into the passenger's seat of the car as Aubrey started it.

It was quiet. _Too quiet._

Aubrey reached over to grab Emily's hand, the younger woman looked at the hand on top of her own, looked up at Aubrey, who glanced at her, and then back to Micah who wasn't paying any attention.

"Are you trying to subtly tell our nephew that we're together?" Emily whispered.

Aubrey shrugged, "I just want to be close to you," she whispered back. "Is that a problem?"

"No," Emily whispered softly. "It's just-"

"I can hear you two, you know." Micah said from the backseat. "And I think you two are cute together." Emily looked back at him, "I've also known for awhile now. I was just waiting for you two to confirm it."

"Oh," Aubrey said softly. "Okay."

"So has Dani," he said. "We had a bet going on about how long you two would hide it."

Silence.

"Sooo," Emily said, "who won?"

Aubrey rolled her eyes and gently hit her girlfriend's bicep, "I did," Micah answered. The lawyer glared at her nephew from the rearview mirror.

* * *

Micah, Emily, and Aubrey rushed into the hospital waiting room and they saw Beca sitting there with her head in her hands and Chloe sitting next to her rubbing the music producer's back, scratching it every once and awhile.

"Moms?" Micah said softly making Beca's head pop up.

"Hi baby boy," the mama said as the mom stood up to hug him.

"How is she?" He got out quickly still being wrapped up in his mom's embrace.

"They're doing tests now," Chloe said, "but she's breathing again."

"Good," he murmured. "Good. What happened?" He asked as he sat down next to Beca after leaving Chloe's hug and the redhead went over to her other two Bella sister to give them a hug.

"She ran into Adam this afternoon." Beca said.

"What?" Micah said stepping into his protective big brother mode.

"Micah," Chloe said coming up beside him placing her hand on his shoulder, "I need you to calm down. Sissy is fine."

"She stopped breathing," Micah pointed out.

"She's _alive_." Chloe said assertively.

"She. Stopped. Breathing." Micah said lowly and slowly.

"She. Is. Alive." Chloe said lowly and slowly back.

"Hey," Beca said softly. "Let's not argue loves." Chloe and Micah were in a staring match that they had never been in before, "Why don't you go sit with Aunt Bree and Aunt Em?" She whispered to her son who reluctantly looked away from his mom and sat next to Aubrey. "Why don't we go over here?" She suggested softly to her wife. Beca walks her wife to the other side of the waiting room, "Chlo honey, what was that?" She whispered.

"I know what he's doing." She whispered back. "He's already lost a lot in his life and he thinks he's gonna lose Dani."

"So you think _now_ is the time to assert tough love?" Beca whispered back incredulously. "Now, when he's the most vulnerable?"

"You can't coddle him forever, Bec." Chloe said, eyebrow raised.

Beca sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "So, now this is somehow my fault?" She said back incredulously.

"No honey-" Chloe tried.

"I'm protective of _all four_ of our kids." She argued. "Bailee, Taylor, Micah, _and_ Dani. So I coddle all of our kids?"

"I didn't say that," Chloe said softly.

"You didn't have to," Beca whispered-yelled. "You definitely implied it."

Beca walked away. She never walked away when they argued, not since their first fight when she did it and it hurt Chloe, like the brunette didn't want the redhead, but the music producer had to get away from her wife.

Chloe took a shaky deep breath, she managed to get two out of five of her loves, mad at her in less than 90 seconds. She fell into the chair behind her put her head in her hands and just cried.

She felt arms around her and looked up to see Aubrey holding her, she looked over to where he son was, and saw that he had walked outside to get some fresh air.

"Everything's gonna be okay," Aubrey whispered. "I promise."

The lawyer kissed the vice principal's head and rested her chin there. Chloe saw Emily get up and go to the other side of the room to comfort Beca who was curled in a ball in the chair.

* * *

Dani's eyes opened very groggily, "Well hello warrior princess." She looked over at her uncle who had snuck into the room.

"Unc- I mean, Doctor Mitchell?" She got out.

"I mean, yes, but I'd definitely prefer you to call me Uncle Nick." He said.

"This- this isn't your department." She said.

"You're right," he said, "but the moment I heard your name over the intercom, I had to get to you. You had a major anxiety attack. You stopped breathing for awhile. Scared the shit out of all of us."

"Do- do my moms know you're in here?" She asked.

"No," he said. "The intern let me in when I said that you were my niece and I pulled a lot of strings to see you. What happened, warrior princess?"

"I saw Adam at the bank, I went straight to my moms, but it was already too late." She said.

"Well, I'm glad you went to your moms," he said. "That shows growth." Dani nodded. "You're gonna be fine, medically speaking." He added looking at her file.

"Good," Dani said. "I'm glad."

"Emotionally speaking..." he tried.

"I already have plans on going back to therapy full-time." She said. He nodded, "I promise I'm better when it comes to talking about my feelings."

"Good," he said hearing a knock on the door seeing the doctor come in, "I better get out of the way. Doctor Baylor is the best in the biz, I can promise you that."

The other doctor nodded, "Thank you, Doctor Mitchell." She said. "I take it, this is one of your nieces?"

He nodded, "My youngest niece." Nick said.

"Well," Doctor Baylor said, "I promise to take extra good care of her."

"I'm glad." He said with a half smile. "She's like her mama though, if she gives you any lip, lemme know."

Dani rolled her eyes, "Thank you Doctor Uncle Nick, you can leave now." She said.

The man winked at her and left the room, the female doctor waited for the door close, "Well, you've had one hell of an evening, haven't you?" She said making Dani nod.

* * *

Micah was standing outside, doing some deep breathing exercises, when an intern came out to take a deep breath himself. The intern then looked over at Micah who wasn't paying any attention.

"You okay?" The intern asked.

Micah looked up to see the man standing there, hair messy from a long intern shift, "Yeah, I'm fine." The music producer said.

"You know when most people say that they're fine, they _really aren't fine._ " The doctor intern said.

"I also don't just tell random strangers how I'm really doing," Micah snapped back.

"Okay, hi," the doctor intern said, "my name is Noah."

He stuck out his hand for the music producer to shake, Micah slowly brought his hand up to shake it, "Micah." He said.

"I know," he said. "We've actually met once before."

"We have?" Micah asked.

Noah nodded, "My brother-in-law is one of you clients." He said. "Brandon Leaf?"

"Oh yeah, you're Monica's little brother." He said. "Sorry, I meet a lot of people."

Noah nodded, "I understand." He said. "What brings you here?"

"My sister." He replied shortly.

"Dani Mitchell-Beale, right?" He said. "Severe panic attack?" Micah looked up at him, "I'm her doctor's intern." He said.

"Is- is she going to be okay?" Micah asked.

Noah nodded, "Doctor Baylor is in there talking with her right now." He said. "Why are you out here?"

Micah sighed, "Got into a fight with my mom," he said. "Needed some air."

"You know, you've had a lot thrown at you in the last year." He said. "I'm sorry to hear about your fiancé."

"Thanks," Micah got out.

"May I ask how you're doing with that?" Noah asked softly.

"I miss him," Micah answered honestly. Quickly getting comfortable around Noah. "I want to move on, but I can't. It hurts so much."

Noah nodded, "I can't imagine how hard that is," he said placing a soft hand on the music producer's shoulder. Suddenly a feeling shot through Micah's body that he's only felt with Cody. He shook it off because _it was too soon_. "Well, as much as I would like to talk more, I better get back in there. Just came out here because it felt suffocating in there. I hope life hands you a better hand, Micah Mitchell-Beale." He left his hand on the music producer's shoulder for a few seconds longer, caressing the front of his shoulder with his thumb. "Here," the intern pulled a pen out of his scrubs pocket and wrote on Micah's hand, "If you ever need someone that doesn't know the situation just to listen, I always like a reason to drink a good scotch."

After Noah was done he smiled at Micah and then walked away leaving Micah standing there in one place.

* * *

Beca and Chloe were on opposite sides of the waiting room. The redhead curled into Aubrey and the brunette curled into Emily.

"I shouldn't have provoked her," Chloe whispered suddenly as she stared at Emily holding Beca.

"Everyone is so sensitive right now," Aubrey said playing with red hair."You didn't mean to."

Noah came out to find Beca and Chloe, "Mrs. and Mrs. Mitchell-Beale?" He called out making both parents jump.

"How is she?" Beca asked, absentmindedly grabbing Chloe's hand.

"She good," he said. "Stable. Why don't you two come back with me to see her? That way the doctor can give you more information and all three of you can be on the same page."

"Okay," Beca said letting go of Chloe's hand and following Noah. Chloe followed close behind, but still hurt that she hurt Beca so much as the woman didn't want to hold her hand.

They walked into the room seeing Dani's eyes open, "Hi moms." The engineer murmured as both moms took each side of the bed.

"You must be Mrs. and Mrs. Mitchell-Beale," Doctor Baylor said. "I've heard a lot about you through my colleague Doctor Mitchell."

Beca laughed at the fact that her brother talked about her and Chloe's family with his colleagues, "Yeah, you can call us Beca and Chloe though." The music producer answered.

"We'd prefer it actually," Chloe added.

"Okay, well, we want to monitor her overnight, but she'll be free to go in the morning." Doctor Baylor said. "I told her that I would like the two of you to keep an eye on her for the next 48-72 hours following, just in case she goes into another frightening panic attack. She said that she would get an appointment with her therapist as soon as possible."

"Okay," Beca said brushing hair out of Dani's eyes.

"And this is what I tell every parent, you two should go home and get some sleep. She'll be in good hands here. We are just monitoring her because if we need to give her a sedative to actually sleep, we want to see how she reacts to it, considering according to her file, she's never had one before." The doctor said.

"Okay," Chloe said. "Is it okay if her aunts and brother come in and see her?"

"Of course," the doctor said. "Make it quick though. We want her to get as much sleep as possible."

* * *

As Micah, Aubrey, and Emily were seeing Dani, Beca and Chloe were standing outside the door. They were quiet as they stood next to each other, Chloe was waiting for her wife to snap at her, like she had done in the waiting room.

Beca grabbed Chloe's hand, the redhead looked at her, but the brunette still had her eyes ahead, "I'm sorry for being so sensitive," Beca said. "Sometimes I still think that I'm a shitty parent even though their grown adults."

Chloe brought her hand up to kiss her wife's hand, "You're _not_ a shitty parent, Bec." She reassured.

"I do coddle them a lot," Beca said. "I get so worried that when they're around I just want to take care of them. I just want to feel wanted." Beca looked over to her wife, "It scares me so much. Like Taylor, I can't be there when she's ready to give up being a parent like I was when she and Dani were first born or like Dani, I can't protect her from those terrifying flashbacks of the night that Adam took advantage of her." She took a deep breath, "Or Bailee, I can't protect her if she gets deployed and we end up in the same situation as Aubrey is in with Cody." She took a deep breath, "Or Micah, I can't protect him when people like Tommy Levit are suing him via Legacy Records or I can't protect him on the nights that he feels so lonely and he's literally on his knees on the ground crying so hard because Cody isn't here anymore." Beca stops and takes a deep breath, "I'm _so_ worried all the time and I just want it all to stop."

Chloe pulled her wife into a hug and just held for a moment, "I know," she said after a little while, "I feel just the same, but we can't protect them from everything. All we can do is love them so unconditionally that they know they can still always come to us."

Beca pulled back a little to give her wife a soft kiss, they stood there making out for awhile, knowing that they'd fully make up later.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Come on, I can't have Bechloe fighting forever. That just isn't right.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Hope this isn't so much angst to start your holiday out.

Dunno if I can get an update up before the new year, so if not, I'll see you in 2017!


	8. The Love of Family

**A/n:** When your Christmas is super low-key and you're working weird hours this week, _hello week between Christmas and New Years._ This probably will be the last update of 2016 though. It's kinda a filler chapter, but whatevs.

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter Eight: The Love of Family**

Chloe and Aubrey had surprised their respective loves with a spontaneous double date in the conference room at Legacy Records. The two music producers were really stressed out because of the Tommy Levit lawsuit and the vice principal and family lawyer wanted to take care of them. Micah was on a business trip at the New York branch of Legacy Records and still didn't know about the said lawsuit. Everything was kept under wraps pretty well and the male music producer didn't seem to pay attention to the news and gossip around the office or the tabloids anyway.

Both Chloe and Aubrey were rubbing the shoulders of their respective love, "So, are you two _ever_ going to tell him?" Aubrey asked as she rubbed a particularly tough knot out of Emily's shoulder. She kept rubbing the that shoulder feeling the tension in her girlfriend's body language.

"We'll only let him know if he's needed in the trial," Beca said as Chloe was rubbing her upper back. "He already has a lot on his plate right now. Oww," she said suddenly.

"Sorry honey," Chloe said. "This knot is just tough. I think a lot of the reason why you two are stressing out so much, is _because_ Micah doesn't know."

"He does have a lot on his plate right now," Emily said. "He hasn't, understandably, been himself, not since Cody left for his deployment." Aubrey hands fell from her girlfriend's shoulder and she sank into the seat next to her. "Oh baby," the music producer said softly. "I'm sorry."

Aubrey rest her face in her hands, "No, no." The lawyer said. "It's fine. I just _really_ miss him." Emily pulled her girlfriend into her lap and kissed beneath her ear. "I knew you were stressed, so I didn't wanna bother you with it." She added.

"I'm _never_ too stressed to take care of you, love." Emily whispered. She looked over to Beca and Chloe and noticed the two women weren't paying attention to them. "What can I do to help?" She whispered.

"Just hold me," Aubrey got out.

"You got it," Emily said kissing below the ear unknowingly make Aubrey turn to mush.

It was quiet in the conference room for awhile before Chloe asked, "So how long is Micah in New York for?"

"Just a week," Emily said. "There was an artist that wanted to work with him in Brooklyn."

"Oooh," Chloe said. "A lot of artists have been wanting him lately."

"Our baby boy is a grammy award winning producer babe," Beca said. "Of course artists want him."

"So why is Tommy Levit suing him?" Aubrey asked softly.

"Because," Beca sighed, "he's under the impression that Micah made us terminate his contract."

"Well did he?" Aubrey asked as Emily kissed her shoulder.

"No," Beca said. "Emily and I made an executive decision when Micah was on the ground in his office in the fetal position trying not to go into a panic attack."

"Okay, mama bear," Aubrey said. "Calm down."

"Sorry," Beca mumbled. "I get protective."

Aubrey smiled and nodded remembering a time where Beca got protective, it was with Taylor and it was when she and Parker were arguing about getting married. And then she saw how protective she got for her _now_ son-in-law when the four of them heard how broken he really was.

 _It was Christmas Day in Los Angeles and the entire family was together. It was the last Christmas that the family would spend with Cody, the last Christmas before Taylor and Parker would get married. The young couple had been arguing quietly up in Taylor's room, but the parents and Aubrey knew what was going on. The four of them walked up the stairs to see what was going on because they had been up there for a long while._

 _The door was slightly opened and the four stood outside of the door listening, "Are we ever going to get married?" Taylor asked. "What's it going to take, Parker?"_

 _"It's not that simple," Parker said. "You wouldn't understand."_

 _"So help me understand," Taylor said somewhat angrily. Beca heard the anger in the daughter that was always like her bubbly wife and wanted to go to her side immediately, but her redheaded wife stopped her by placing a hand on her arm and mouthed, 'don't.' It was then that Aubrey saw how protective she was of her kids, "Because you keep saying that you aren't ready, if you aren't ready, why did you propose?"_

 _Parker sighed and let out a strangled cry, "Because I love you, okay? I just am having issues with marriage right now because you were always lucky to have two parents who were always there, but what did I get? I got a mom who loves me unconditionally without question and a dad who has been in and out of my life since I was seven years old. You don't get it. Aunt Beca and Aunt Chloe have loved you and your siblings unconditionally, but you don't get what it feels like to- to feel unwanted_ _. I'm scared, Tay." He said in a broken voice. "I'm so, so scared that I'm going to fuck everything up. I don't know what it looks like to be a husband and what? You wanna try to have kids? I don't know what it's like to be a father. You had two great examples on how to be a wife growing up with your moms. You had three great examples on how to be a mom from all of our moms. I don't know how to be a husband or a dad."_

 _Beca's shoulders straightened and a soft look went on her face and Aubrey saw it. She saw how she went from protective of Taylor to protective of Parker in all of thirty seconds._

 _"Park," Taylor said, tears running down her face._

 _"I- I- I can't do this right now, Tay." He said. "I bet dinner's almost ready, I better go splash water on my face. I'll be down in a minute."_

"I know you do, Bec." Aubrey said coming out of that memory. "And it's okay, but I was just asking a question because I was curious, not to judge you."

"I'm sorry," Beca said putting her face in her hands.

Chloe pulled her wife's chair back and sat in her lap whispering things to her to calm her down. It seems to work because after a minute, the two softly kiss. The two couples sat in silence as the music producers held their respective love in their arms.

* * *

Dani sat at her desk at work, feeling much better since her severe panic attack a couple of weeks before. She heard a knock on her door and looked up to see Matthew standing there with a cup of coffee for her.

"Figured you'd want this." He said. "You've been working nonstop in here since you got here this morning."

Dani nodded, "Thank you," she said.

"Everything okay?" He asked. "You abruptly took a couple of personal days a couple of weeks ago, it's been so busy that I didn't check in."

Dani smiled at him, he was one of her best friends, they met in a college English literature class her sophomore year at USC and despite what most people are saying about him having a thing for her, he's still one of the sweetest best friends should could ever ask for.

"I had a severe panic attack, stop breathing, the doctor wanted my moms to watch me for a couple of days and they demanded that I didn't work or anything. Spent two days cuddling with my mama." She said.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he said placing a gentle hand on her arm.

A jolt went up Dani's arm, not in a bad way, but definitely in a way that never had happened before.

 _What is this?_ She thought.

"I'm better now," she said. "Back in therapy until further notice."

"You make that sound like a punishment," he said through a chuckle.

She shrugs, "What can I say? I'm still trying to work on being open and honest about my feelings." The engineer said.

"That's understandable," he said, his hand still on her arm, his softly caressed his thumb on her forearm

A tingling sensation went through Dani's body, she shook it off.

"Yeah," she said. "Thanks for the coffee," she said lifting up the cup.

"Of course," he said taking his hand back. "Lemme know if there's anything else I can help out with."

Matthew got up and walked out of the room as Dani went back to work, he stopped at the door and turned around to watch her work for a moment. After a moment, he walked away, knowing that Dani liked to work without people around.

* * *

 _Micah was sleeping in his hotel room in Brooklyn as he had a long day and he just wanted to sleep. He was sleeping peacefully until something in his dreams happened that he wasn't expecting._

 _"Cody?" He said in his dream as he was looking at a figure that looked exactly like his late fiancé._

 _The figure nodded his head, "Hi love." He said. "I'm sorry that I never got to say goodbye."_

 _"I mean, you died for the sake of my freedom," Micah said. "I can't really complain."_

 _"Doesn't mean that for the past year that you haven't felt sad or angry." He said._

 _"I mean, yeah, but I just miss you," Micah said coming towards him to place his hands on his late fiancé's hips._

 _"I know, I miss you too, so much." Cody said. "But, I need you to promise me something?"_

 _"Anything," Micah said resting his forehead on Cody's._

 _"Promise me that when you feel the time is right that you will move on and be happy," he said. Micah shut his eyes tightly as the tears fell, "Promise me."_

 _Micah nodded weakly, "I promise." He said._

 _Cody then pulled back and kissed his forehead, "I love you, honey." He said before walking away and disappearing into the distance._

* * *

Micah then jolted awake and looked to see that it was only 11:30pm in New York, he grabbed his phone to see he had a missed text from Noah.

 _[Noah, February 13th, 10:09pm]: Hi! Just got done with a 12 hour shift and was thinking about you. Hope your New York trip is going well._

Micah smiled at his phone, the only person outside of his family that would do this would be Cody and all of those feelings for the intern started flooding back. It was still less than a year since Cody passed, but he remembered the dream he just had. He wasn't ready to fully move on quite yet, but he could do the slowly moving forward thing.

 _[Micah, February 13th, 11:31pm]: Hey! Yeah, things are going well. The New York branch of Legacy Records treat me like a king._

He wasn't expecting an immediate response, but he smiled when he got one.

 _[Noah, February 13th, 11:31pm]: Well, you ARE a king._

Suddenly, Micah was glad that he was in the hotel room alone because he was blushing.

 _[Micah, February 13th, 11:32pm]: How was your shift?_

He felt really comfortable with Noah already, _was this what Cody meant by moving on when I'm ready?_ He thought.

 _[Noah, February 13th, 11:32pm]: It was alright. Going into my residency soon, looking forward to that._

Micah smiled suddenly thinking of Taylor.

 _[Micah, February 13th, 11:33pm]: My sister is in her residency at a hospital in Boston._

 _[Noah, February 13th, 11:33pm]: No way!_

 _[Noah, February 13th, 11:34pm]: That's so awesome._

 _[Micah, February 13th, 11:35pm]: Yeah, she just had twins too. Not exactly sure how she's doing it all._

 _[Noah, February 13th, 11:36pm]: Such a boss. haha_

 _[Micah, February 13th, 11:36pm]: She's honestly one of my greatest heroes._

 _[Noah, February 13th, 11:37pm]: You seem like a family man._

 _[Micah, February 13th, 11:37pm]: That's because I am._

* * *

Beca was lying on her back on the couch with Chloe on top of her, the redhead was slowly kissing down her neck and the brunette was moaning. The music producer moved her hands to the vice principal's ass and squeezed it to make her moan. Beca's eyes fell shut as Chloe was kissing one of the weak spots on her neck, "You're gonna be the end of me, baby." She managed to get out.

Chloe hummed as she continued to kiss her wife's weak spot on her neck, "Well you were the one that started it. Pinning me to the couch and kissing me." She said resting her head on Beca's shoulder, still lying on top of her. Suddenly Chloe's phone vibrated on the coffee table in front of them, the redhead sat up and grabbed the phone, "Oh, it's Taylor."

"Well, answer it, I wanna see grandbabies if we can." The music producer said.

"Says the grandma that still hasn't picked her name yet," Chloe said as the answered, making Beca roll her eyes. "Hi baby girl," the mom said.

 _"Hi Mom," Taylor said tiredly. "Hi Mama."_

"Hi baby," the mama said. "Everything okay?"

 _She nodded, "Just tired." She said. "Between my residency and being a new mom."_

"Oh baby girl," Chloe said seeing the tiredness in her daughter's eyes. "Is there anything we can do?"

 _She shrugs, "I dunno." She said. "I'm just so tired."_

"What if we fly out for the weekend?" Beca suggested, Chloe immediately agreeing. "You and Parker can just sleep and we'll take care of Ryan and Daniel."

 _Taylor looked off into the distance to what seemed to be Parker listening, he grunted an affirmative response, "Can you even get a plane ticket that soon?" She asked._

"Legacy Records has their own plane, remember?" Beca said.

 _"Oh, right." Taylor said._

"We'll leave as soon as Mom is off work tomorrow and we'll stay as long as you need us to." Beca said.

Chloe nodded, "I'll take time off if I need to." She said.

 _"Okay," she said. "Thank you, Moms."_

 _"Yeah," Parker said in the background. "Thank you Aunt Beca and Aunt Chloe."_

"Of course loves," Beca said. "We'll call you when we land, okay?"

* * *

"So jealous," Emily said the next morning when Beca walked into her office.

"About what?" Beca asked handing her friend a cup of coffee.

"Parker texted me last night saying you and Chloe and flying out of here tonight to see them." She said taking a sip of her coffee.

Beca chuckled, "Yeah well, Taylor looked distressed and on the verge of a mental breakdown. She's overworking herself." She said.

"Well then, I'm glad you two are going out there." She said. "Give those babies extra love from me."

"The actually babies or our babies?" Beca asked playfully.

"Both," Emily said.

Beca chuckled, "Will do," she said. "We're actually taking Dani with us and Bailee and Micah are gonna join us from New York." She said. "Family weekend."

"That's really cool." She said. "Taking the Legacy plane?"

Beca nodded, "No one is using it this weekend, right?" She asked.

Emily shook her head, "That's a lot of people in that small townhome," she said.

"Dani, Micah, and Bailee are actually staying in a hotel." Beca said. "It's only Chloe and I staying with them."

"Well, you have fun." Emily said.

* * *

 _[Noah, February 16th, 8:15pm]: What's your favorite superhero?_

Micah was standing next to Bailee in the airport waiting for his moms and baby sister to land and he smiled at the text.

 _[Micah, February 16th, 8:15pm]: Batman, fo sho._

 _[Noah, February 16th, 8:15pm]: So me saying that Superman is mine would be a dealbreaker to our friendship?_

Micah chuckled and Bailee looked over at him, "Who's Noah?" She asked looking at his phone.

"Just a friend," he answered.

 _[Micah, February 16th, 8:16pm]: I mean, kiiiiinda. But, I gueeess I can make an exception for you. ;)_

"Seems like more than a friend to me," she said noticing his smile.

He rolled his eyes, "I'm slowly, moving on, okay?" He said. "But, this isn't what you think it is."

"Oka-ay bear," she said. "Whatever you say."

 _[Noah, February 16th, 8:16pm]: What are you doing?_

 _[Micah, February 16th, 8:16pm]: Actually having a family weekend in Boston. Waiting for my moms and younger sister to land from LA. What about you?_

"Look, it's them!" Bailee said.

Micah looked up to see his moms and Dani making their way towards them, "Hi babies," Beca said hugging Bailee first. "Hi baby boy," she said coming to hug the man.

"Hey Mama," he said hugging her. "Hi Mom," he said pulling back from Beca to hug Chloe.

"Hi baby," she said. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." He said pulling back to acknowledge Dani, "Hey roommate."

"Hey," she said. "It's been quiet at the apartment without you."

"You mean me playing video games or watching sports?" He asked playfully as she nodded.

She shrugged, "It's more like white noise now." The engineer said pushing up her glasses on her face.

* * *

"Thanks for coming," Taylor said about an hour later as the family was scattered around the living room. "Especially you three," she said to her siblings. "Can't remember the last time we had a family weekend."

"Of course baby girl," Beca said holding her close in her arms. Bailee and Chloe had the twins in their arms, "Where's Parker?"

"Still at work," she said. "He said that he'd be home around eight."

Micah was sitting in the kitchen working on a mix and texting Noah back.

 _[Noah, February 16th, 8:17pm]: Oh, cool! I'm just catching up on my Netflix que. I'm so boring._

 _[Micah, February 16th, 9:10pm]: You aren't boring. I usually watch recorded baseball games on my time off._

 _[Noah, February 16th, 9:11pm]: Shouldn't you be with your family right now?_

 _[Micah, February 16th, 9:11pm]: I AM. I'm just working on a mix right now for this client. Leave me alone, Scott._

 _[Noah, February 16th, 9:12pm]: I'd do anything for my parents to be talking with me right now. Enjoy it, Mitchell-Beale._

 _[Micah, February 16th, 9:13pm]: Oh right, I forgot. I'm sorry, Noah._

Micah sighed and roughly rubbed his face and saved the mix he was doing and shut his laptop before walking back in with the family, "Glad that you could join us, baby boy." Beca joked.

"Yeah figured some solid family time would be good." Micah said feeling the phone in his pocket vibrate.

 _[Noah, February 16th, 9:14pm]: It's fine. Monica and Brandon still love me to pieces. Enjoy the time with your family, Mitchell-Beale._

Micah didn't respond, instead he put his phone on silent and then made Bailee hand over Daniel for him to hold. Once the baby was securely in his arms, he looked up from the sleeping baby to Beca, "So, you got a name for them yet?"

"I called my grandma, naw-yah because I couldn't pronounce grandma as a kid, she was my favorite grandma, so I'm hoping the name makes me the cooler grandma out of the three of us." Beca said.

Chloe rolled her eyes, but didn't respond.

* * *

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Aubrey had Emily pinned to the wall next to the kitchen of the lawyer's apartment. The two were making out like two teenagers and it started when the blonde walked into the apartment to see her girlfriend waiting for her. Emily picked Aubrey up and carried her across the room pinning her against the doorframe of the door.

"God, that's such a turn on," Aubrey said. "Carrying me across the room like that."

"Noted," the music producer said kissing her neck making her moan. "Are you sure you're ready for this?"

Aubrey nodded, "I love you, Em." She said.

"I love you too," Emily said, slowly unbuttoning the lawyer's dress shirt. "So, so much."

Emily started to kiss the exposed chest of Aubrey and the lawyer threw her head back, moaning, "God," she got out.

Emily smiled as she took her back into the bedroom and gently lied her on the bed, shedding her t-shirt before climbing on top of her beautiful lawyer girlfriend. Aubrey unclasped her bra and started to kiss Emily's chest. Some of Aubrey's hair fell in her face and Emily gently wipes it out of her face, "I love you, Bree." Emily reiterated.

"I love you too, Em," the lawyer said. "I can't wait to show you how much."

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Yeeeah, not sure if you wanted me to go further or not, but here ya go. Bechole love/family love, Embrey love, a random Cody appearance in Micah's dreams, Micah slowly moving on...

What did you think?


	9. The Long Haul

**A/n:** Happy New Year!

So hard to believe that 2016 is over and 2017 is here. I hope you all had a safe celebration and that your 2017s are as beautiful as you are.

Here's the next chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter Nine: The Long Haul**

"So wait, he's suing me via Legacy Records?" Micah asked as he sat in his office with Beca and Emily sitting in the chairs on the other side of the desk.

The two older music producers decided to take their love's advice about telling him about it. So they came into his office around lunchtime with lunch for the three of them, shut and locked the door, and told him.

"It looks to be that way," Emily said. "Don't worry, the lawyers are working around the clock to make sure none of this gets out."

"They think that since his career is failing that he just wants money," Beca said watching her son take a bite of a sandwich.

"I told you not to terminate his contract," he said putting the sandwich down and rubbing his face. "We wouldn't be in this mess if we didn't."

"We would do this for _any_ producer," Emily said. "Not just you."

"I know, but-" he tried.

"No, buts." Emily said. "We would do this for any producer."

"We're in the process of putting in place a better interview process, so this doesn't happen again." Beca said. "What he did to you wasn't called for, bub."

Micah scratched the back of his neck, "I know," he said, "but still. I just feel bad that's all."

Beca reached over and gently grabbed his wrist, "I know honey," she said, "but let the lawyers handle it. It's one of the reasons why we hired them full-time, okay?"

He nods looking at his mama and gave her a weak smile, "Okay." He said.

"Okay," Beca said leaning back in her chair taking a bite of her sandwich. "So now that we got that outta the way, how've you been bubba? Haven't really gotten a chance to catch up with you since your New York trip."

"Yeah," Emily said. " _How_ are you?"

He smiled, "I'm alright, slowly moving forward." He said.

"Yeah?" Beca said with one eye squinted and her head slightly cocked.

"I know you two can't be sworn to secrecy with Mom and Aunt Bree," he said making Beca look at Emily. "Yeah, I know." He said answering his mama's unspoken question. "I found out when this one," he began gesturing to Emily, "couldn't keep her hands off Aunt Bree on the way to the hospital to see Dani." Beca nodded. "Anyway, I think I'm moving on."

"What do you mean?" Emily asked taking a bite out of her sandwich.

"I met a guy outside of the hospital when I was taking a deep breath after arguing with Mom." He said.

"Oooh," they both said. "Details." He looked at them both skeptically, neither one of them usually cared.

"When I tell Mom, she's gonna wanna know details." Beca said.

"Same with your Aunt Bree." She said.

He nodded, "Actually, is it cool if _I_ tell Aunt Bree?" He asked. "I just- Cody was her son and I think it would be good if I told her I was moving on, y'know?"

Emily nodded, "Of course, but" she rolls her wrist, "details."

He smiled, "His name is Noah, he's an intern at UCLA Medical, he's Brandon Leaf's brother-in-law." He said.

"No way," Beca and Emily said.

"Monica's little brother?" Beca asked. He nodded. "Ahh, I love that guy. He's so sweet and down to Earth." Emily nodded in agreement. "So are you two like dating now?"

He shook his head, "I don't even know if he likes me in that same way, but I know that I like him a lot. I know it's been less than a year since Cody passed, but" he takes a deep breath, "no judgement here, right?"

They both nod, "Of course baby boy," Beca said.

"Yeah honey," Emily added. "We'll never judge you."

"I had a dream while I was in New York. Cody was in it. He came to tell me that it's okay to move on and that's what I want to do. I want to move on, even if it's hard." He said.

"Well, we're happy for you baby." Beca said. "I can tell Mom, right?"

He nodded, "I'm actually having dinner with Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily tonight." He said. Emily nodded in confirmation. "So, I'll tell her there."

"You sure you want me there?" Emily asked.

He nodded, "I'll need the support." He said. "Not sure how she'll take it."

"She just wants you happy honey." Emily said. "You were dating Cody before she adopted him."

He let out a chuckle, "She also gave me the, _'you hurt my baby, I'll hurt you'_ speech when I asked her if I could marry him." He said.

"She loves you, bub." Beca said. "And that's what matters."

* * *

Chloe was sitting in her office when she heard a knock on the door, she looked up expecting it to be yet another student needing disciplinary actions, but she was surprised when she saw Michele standing there.

"Oh thank god," Chloe let out.

"Happy to see me?" The principal asked coming into shut the door.

"I'm just happy that you're not another student," Chloe said. "It's been a day."

"So I've heard," the principal said. "I'm sorry about that."

"A lot of the students are foster kids that are clearly showing signs of just needing attention, but don't know how to show it." She said. "Anyway, what's up?"

"I'm just going to be blunt," she said, "I'm retiring at the end of the school year."

"Oh wow," Chloe said. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," Michele said. "Anyway, the superintendent has given me permission to give the next person my job and you're the first person I thought of."

Chloe's eyebrows furrowed, "Really?" She asked, somewhat shocked.

Michele nodded, "Over the past decade that you've been in this position, you've showed a whole lot of leadership, you've put in the time, and South Los Angeles High wouldn't be where it's at right now if it wasn't for you. Academically speaking, we're in such a better spot than 10 years ago when you took on this position. I already put your name in, all you have to do is say yes."

Chloe looked at her boss with a small smile, it's something that she _did_ want, something that she and Beca had talked about numerous times, even talking about Chloe starting her own school, but she _loved_ South Los Angeles High, she loved the students here. She made her decision right then and there.

"Yes." She said simply.

* * *

"He what?" Chloe said excitedly that night cuddling with Beca on the couch.

"He's slowly moving on," Beca said, playing with Chloe's hair. "And he found a good one."

"Deeeetails." Chloe exclaimed excitedly.

Beca chuckled, "His name is Noah, he's an intern at UCLA Medical, he's sweet. I know that because I've met him before." She said.

"You have?!" Chloe said.

"Yeah, he's Brandon Leaf's brother-in-law." Beca said. "Micah officially met him outside of the hospital when Dani was there after he was arguing with you."

"Oh," Chloe said softly, but her smile so big. "You think it'll go anywhere?"

Beca shrugged, "I'm not sure, love." She said honestly. "I hope so though."

Beca continued playing with the vice principal's hair, "How do you think Bree is gonna take it?" Chloe asked cuddling further into the music producer.

"I'm not sure." Beca said. "He's telling her tonight. So we'll see." There was a silence over the two as they just cuddled with each other. "How was your day, beautiful?" She asked kissing the top of her head still playing with her hair.

Chloe smiled thinking back to that conversation with Michele, "It started out rough, but ended up being really good. How was your day baby?" She asked.

"It was another long day at Legacy Records," she said. "Tell me about your day though."

"It started out with a couple of suspensions and couple of detentions and whatnot, but by lunchtime, I, uh, I was offered a promotion starting next year." She said casually.

"What? Really?" Beca said excitedly.

Chloe nodded, "Michele is retiring at the end of the year and wants me to replace her." She said.

"That's so awesome love," Beca said. "Congratulations."

"Thank you baby," Chloe said looking up at Beca closing the gap between them. They made out for a minute and the redhead straddled the brunette. The music producer placed her hands on the vice principal's hips.

"I can't wait to call you, _Principal_ Mitchell-Beale," Beca mumbled on her wife's lips making Chloe smile as the music producer picked her up and carried her up to their bedroom still kissing her.

* * *

"How are you doing, bub?" Aubrey asked Micah who was sitting across from her messing with the label on the beer bottle.

"I'm alright." He said. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," she said. "This one," she gestured to Emily, "takes good care of me." She added looking lovingly at Emily.

Micah smiled at how in love his aunts were and then he took a deep breath, "Aunt Bree, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Aubrey looked softly over at her nephew, "What's up, honey?" She asked.

Micah looked over at Emily, who nodded her head encouragingly, he took another deep breath, "When I was 17, I fell head over heels in love with a guy named Cody Adams. He understood my brokenness, he understood my anxiety, he took care of me, and I did all of that for him. There came a point where he just wanted to be adopted and I understood that because when my moms adopted me, it was like I was soaring." He took a deep breath, "We were on the same track, West Point bound, military life, but something in me wasn't wanting to do that anymore. We fought about it for awhile because we had these plans on being cadets together, but I wasn't feeling it. I wanted to make music, I wanted to mix music, deejay at friend's parties, and still be close to _family_ because that's just who I became after my moms adopted me." He looked up at Aubrey, "So he went on and became a military man and I stayed here to become a music producer and an occasional party deejay. I'll never forget asking you for permission to marry him on the plane when we all were flying out for his graduation."

 _They were on the Legacy Records plane flying to New York to see Cody graduate from West Point, everyone was asleep because they were flying overnight, but Aubrey and Micah were awake, glass of wine in her hand and a glass of scotch in his hand. The two were catching up because they've both been busy with work and life._

 _"Hey," Micah suddenly said, "may I ask you kind of a serious question?"_

 _"Of course," she said. "What's up, bub?"_

 _"I want to marry Cody and I know he's your baby and he adores you and I know that he'd want me to ask you this, is that okay?" Micah asked._

 _Aubrey smiled, "Yeah honey," she said with tears welling in her eyes, "of course."_

 _Micah smiled, "Okay then," he said._

"I remember how honored your face looked when I asked." He said. "I remember you thinking I was going to do it that weekend, but waited until we were back in the place where he and I met to do it." He smiled, "And then somewhere down the line we lost him and I know all he wants for me to be is happy and I'm slowly moving on, I wanted you to know from me. I met this guy and I don't know if he likes me the same way, but he makes me happy. Every single time I talk to him I start to feel the same way I felt with Cody."

There was a moment of silence while Aubrey processed this information and when she did, she smiled, "Well, _I'm_ happy for you, bub." She said.

"Really?" He said as she nodded he let out a sigh of relief. "I didn't know how you were going to act."

She shrugged, "We all have to move on eventually." She said. "I love you, Micah. That will _never_ change."

He smiled, "I love you too, Aunt Bree." He said.

* * *

Dani was tired and on the verge of crying. She seemed to be stuck in her chair in her office at work unable to move. Her body felt heavy, she _was_ able to pick up her phone and dial Taylor's number.

 _Maybe I just need to talk to my sister._ She thought.

 _Maybe I'll calm down after hearing her voice._

She was FaceTiming the girl and when the resident doctor picked up, she had a small smile on her face, _"Hi sissy, this is a nice surprise." She said. "How are you?"_

"I'm alright, I just missed you and wanted to talk to you." She said. "How are you?"

 _"I'm okay," Taylor said. "Better now," she added with a smile. "You still at the office?"_

Dani nodded, "Late night coding, you know me." She said.

 _"I'm really glad you found what you love, sissy." Taylor said. "You're eating and whatnot, right?"_

Dani nodded, "Postmates is here on a daily basis." She said with a smile.

 _"Good, good." Taylor said. "I sometimes worry about you."_

"Yeah, so do Moms and Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily. Speaking of which, you know Aunt Bree and Aunt Emily are dating now right?" Dani said.

 _"Whaat?!" Taylor exclaimed with a smile. "This is news to me."_

"It was news to me until our big weekly Mitchell-Junk-Posen-Beale family dinner the other night." The engineer said adjusting her glasses on her face. "Well, not really, both Micah and I called it at the beginning of the year, but were waiting for them to come clean about it."

 _"Uggh, I feel like we miss so much living across the freaking country." Taylor said. "Well, I'm happy for them. It's like they've been together for all these years anyway."_

"Right?" Dani said, feeling lighter. _Yeah this was a good idea._ "They're so freaking adorable too."

 _"Sneak pictures and send them to me." Taylor said. "Aunt Em hasn't told Parker yet or she has and he's forgotten to tell me," she said looking off screen._

 _"Sorry..." he said._

 _"You knew?!" The resident doctor exclaimed._

 _"It slipped my mind," he said. "Things have been busy."_

"Wait, Parker is there?" Dani asked. Taylor nodded, "I mean, can I see both of you at the same time?"

 _"Hey Dani," Parker said sitting next to Taylor placing an arm around her._

"God, I miss you both." Dani said.

 _"We miss you too, sissy." Taylor said. "So Aunt Bree and Aunt Em, huh?"_

"Yeah," Dani nodded, feeling much, much lighter than she was before calling them. "Are the babies awake?"

 _"Yeah," Parker said. "I'll get them so you can see them."_

* * *

Micah was sitting at a bar waiting for Noah, the music producer wanted to just be bold and see if this thing between them was going anywhere. He took a deep breath when the man walked in, still in his scrubs from his shift with a jacket over it.

"Hey," Noah said. "You already got my drink?"

Micah nodded, "You always ask for scotch on the rocks," he said. "Drinks are on me tonight."

"Well thank you," Noah said. "Why are you nervous?"

Micah took a deep breath to calm his nerves, "Because, because I like you, damnit. I like you in the same way I've liked Cody Adams since senior year of high school and before that Emerson Daly since fourth grade. I like you and every single time we talk my heart skips a beat and I can't stop thinking of you, but at the same time, I'm not over Cody. I miss him every single day and that wouldn't be fair to you if you even like me back in that same way. I like you, Noah Scott."

"I like you too, Micah Mitchell-Beale." Noah said placing his hand on top of the music producer's. "And I _know_ you aren't over Cody and that's _fine_. We can take this slowly."

"You- you like me too?" Micah asked surprised.

"I wouldn't invest so much time into doing something I hate if I didn't." He said making Micah look at him weirdly. "I hate texting."

"Ohh," Micah said. "Well then, okay."

"You know a huge reason why I stepped outside that day at the hospital is because I've had the hugest crush on you since we met at Brandon's album release party." He said. "I thought just maybe if I'd jump, it would take me somewhere and I was right. It did." He smiled grabbing Micah's hand, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna be here for the long haul. I hope that in that long haul, I can gain your trust."

Micah nodded, "Me too." He said.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Boom.

Starting this year with an update with a bang. It's just getting started up in here.

What'd you think?


	10. Thank Yous And Moving On

**A/n:** SO SORRY ABOUT THE WAIT!

This semester took one hell of a turn for me: emotionally and physically speaking, but I'm on summer break and have plans to be doing a lot of writing. So you should be getting more updates!

Here we go!

* * *

 **Chapter Ten: Thank Yous And Moving On**

Micah was working in his office when he heard a knock on his door, he looked up to see Jesse Swanson standing at his office door.

"Hey Jesse," Micah said. "What's up?"

"I know you're being asked a lot right now, but I was wondering if you could produce our next album?" He asked.

"Of course," Micah said. "I love what I do, I would only say no if I had more than three projects going on."

"Okay cool," he said, still lingering by the door.

"You know you can come in," Micah said. "All I'm doing is a mix right now for a client."

Jesse came in and shut the door behind him and sat in front of Micah, "You sound so much like your mama when we were in college." He said.

Micah chuckled, "Yeah that's what my mom says on a daily basis." He said.

"You like being adopted by them?" Jesse asked.

Micah nodded, "They're two of the best moms I could ever have asked for." He said. "Why?"

"Just curious, I mean, I don't know how you were before you were adopted, but you seem light. Lighter than most recently, I'm sorry for your loss." He said.

"I am and thank you," Micah said. "I miss Cody on a daily basis, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him, but I'm moving forward, it's what he would want, what I would want for him if the roles were reversed."

"I'm glad," Jesse said. "Your family seems to be helping you out a lot."

He nodded, "I have the best family in the world." He said. "Is there a reason why you're wanting to know all of this?"

Jesse shrugged, "I like to know my producers." He answered.

Micah nodded, "Fair enough." He said. "What else do you wanna know?"

"What's your drink of choice? Like alcohol-wise?" Jesse said.

Micah reached down under his desk and pulled out some scotch with two glasses, "Want some?" He asked Jesse.

The musician nodded, "If it's okay," he said.

"Always okay," Micah said. "So, tell me, what kind of album are you and the band trying to produce?"

* * *

Beca was lying with Chloe in bed that evening, their legs were intertwined with each other's, they were staring at each other, the music producer running her hand through the vice principal's hair, "Whatcha thinking about love?" The brunette asked. Chloe buried her face into Beca's neck, "Hey," Beca said pulling her closer, "what's wrong baby?"

"Bad day," Chloe mumbled.

"Yeah?" Beca asked, Chloe nodded. "Wanna talk about it?" Chloe started crying, "Oh honey." The music producer sat up and brought her crying wife into her lap and rocked her back and forth. "I got you," she whispered. "I'm not going anywhere." She whispered. She kissed the woman's temple. Unsure of where this crying was coming from, she quietly comforted her wife. When the crying calmed down, Beca whispered, "Whenever you're ready to talk about it, I'm here, okay?"

It was silent for a moment. Beca kept rubbing up and down on Chloe's arms and rocking them back and forth, "Why is this world so cruel?" Chloe finally let out. "Why? Why?" Chloe let out a choked sob. Beca knew this question was rhetorical, so she didn't answer. This wasn't the first time they've found themselves in this position, one of the first times was with their now son, Micah. She knew that her wife just needed to vent. "I don't understand how you can bring a human being into the world and just to leave them high and dry because drugs and alcohol are more convenient. I don't understand how a public education system can fail so many kids at once. I don't understand why- why it _hurts so much._ " Chloe put her head on Beca's shoulder, "I know this is why we put the girls in private school, I know this is why we considered putting Micah there, but I don't understand why- why it physically pains me when kids sit in my office and I _see_ their potential, but they're unknowingly throwing it away because this system is failing them. Because their legal guardians are failing them. Day after day, I see kids come in and out of my office. I can't handle it. I know I can't save the world, but I _want_ to. Is that so bad?"

Beca swallowed back her own tears listening to her wife's heart break, "No love, it's not bad. It reminds me of one of the many reasons why I fell in love with you." She said honestly.

"Really?" She said moving to rest her chin on her wife's shoulder.

Beca nodded, "Every time you put your heart on your sleeve, I fall more and more in love with you." She said honestly. "You make _me_ wanna become a better person. I know the public school system sucks and you're right, that's why we put Taylor and Dani in private school and why we thought about putting Micah there. However, remember that scared teenage kid that came into our home when he was _just_ a foster kid? Remember how his walls were so high and cemented into the ground? Remember that kid? That kid turned into the youngest, most successful music producer in history. He turned into a confident young man who every artist and band wants to work with. I don't want to imagine his life if we didn't adopt him, we love on him a lot and he's flourishing. You love on those South Los Angeles High kids as much as you professionally can and then you have students like Bailee, who indirectly received that love and went to West Point and graduated and now has a successful military career. Or Cody, who lost his life serving this country, but the love you gave him before he started dating our son. You're doing something right, love. I know you can't see it right now, but know that I see it and I'm proud of you. And more importantly, I love you."

Chloe smiled and hid her face in Beca's neck, "I love you too, baby." She said. "Thank you."

"Anytime, love." Beca said, kissing her neck.

* * *

"You were a little flat on that chorus, man." Micah said to Jesse in the booth. "Wanna run through it again?"

"Oh yeah, sorry." Jesse said.

Micah shrugged, "Hey, don't worry about it. I know my mama gives you a hard time about doing things over and over again, but I get wanting it to be perfect." He said. "Why don't we take five, get some tea to warm up your vocal chords a little?"

Jesse nodded, "Sounds good, thanks man." He said.

Micah turned to his assistant, "Hey Katie?" He said as the woman looked up from her computer. "Can you go get Jesse some hot tea?"

"Of course," the woman said. "Do you want anything?"

"Coffee would be great." He said. "Thanks." Jesse came out of the booth and fell onto the couch, "My assistant went to go get you tea."

"Oh awesome." He said. "You know you're my favorite producer to work with here now. I can see why people want to work with you."

Micah shrugged off the compliment, "Thanks man, I really appreciate it." He said. "I love what I do and I want to take care of our clients here." He added.

"Have you ever thought about going solo?" Jesse asked curiously.

Micah shook his head, "I love working for my mama and Aunt Emily, I have stability here. I didn't necessarily grow up with that until I was 15. I like stability. Besides, once they both retire, this company is mine anyway." He said. "That's what they said on my first day here right outta high school."

 _Micah walked into Legacy Records the Monday after high school graduation and Beca handed him a set of keys, "Here you go, bubba. Your own set of keys to the studio." She said. He started to visibly freak out, "Don't worry, you're not the owner of the company until both Aunt Emily and I retire."_

 _"Really?" He asked._

 _"Yup," Emily said coming up into the conversation. "Over the next twenty years, we'll be slowly handing off Legacy Records to you."_

 _"Wh- why?" He asked._

 _"Want it to stay in the family," Beca said wrapping her arm around him. "Don't worry, this doesn't mean we'll treat you any differently. You only get some special treatment because I can't help it sometimes."_

"Your first day? Damn." Jesse said.

"Yeah," Micah said. "The joke is that Taylor is Mom's favorite and Dani is Beca's and Bailee and I are both of their favorites."

Jesse chuckled, "Life doesn't sound dull in the Mitchell-Beale family," he said.

"Oh, it isn't. I mean, you've met my moms." He chuckled. "My three sisters are even crazier."

"Yeah," he said thinking about his short-lived relationship with Beca, "I have."

Katie brought back in tea and coffee for the two men as they changed the subject to sports, it didn't go by Micah unnoticed Jesse's face. The music producer knew that the musician briefly dated his mama, but didn't think much of it.

* * *

Emily was rubbing Aubrey's shoulders as the lawyer went over some casework on the bed in her apartment, "So this is gonna be one hell of a case," the music producer noted out loud.

Aubrey chuckled, "What makes you say that?" She asked enjoying the hands working knots out of her shoulders.

"It was handed to you this morning and there are already huge knots in your shoulders." She said.

"This family wants to adopt this foster kid, but the mother isn't budging on signing her rights away. The father did easily." Aubrey said knowing that Emily would keep in confidential.

"Oooh, no wonder." Emily said. "Do you want company or-"

"Of course I want company baby." The lawyer said. "Here, I'll actually stop for the night." She added piling everything up.

She moved her stuff to the nightstand and then cuddled into Emily, they had the 24 hour news cycle running for background noise, but they were just content cuddling together, "May I ask you something?" Emily said running fingers through Aubrey's hair.

"Anything," Aubrey said softly.

"Do you miss being a mom?" She asked carefully. "Like, I _know_ you'll always be a mom, but do you miss the duties of being a mom." Aubrey was silent for a moment, maybe too long because, "Sorry, never mind."

"No, no," Aubrey quickly said, "it's fine baby. I'm just thinking." It was quiet for another moment, "Of course I miss being a mom, especially to Cody. Sometimes I wish I had him for longer, even though logically, I know I wouldn't have been emotionally ready, but I miss someone calling me Mom and I miss the duties of being a mom."

"Do you think you'd want to be a mom again?" Emily asked.

Aubrey shrugged, "I dunno," she murmured. "Why?"

"I was just curious." Emily said. "I liked watching you and Cody together, it was like you had a purpose with him."

"He honestly was my world for almost a decade," Aubrey said. "I really do miss him."

"Aw baby," Emily said as she felt her girlfriend begin to shake. "I got you." She said holding her tighter. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I just miss him so much," Aubrey said. "I need my baby boy back. For eight years, I woke up every single day and knew I had a son. He- he had so many dreams outside of the military. So many dreams. He- he wanted to come back here and run for state assembly and then the US senate and then eventually become President. He had a whole political dream that he now can't fulfill because- because he wanted to protect this _country_ and- and all I wanted to do was protect _him_."

It was silent for awhile, Emily holding Aubrey close, as the lawyer cried.

* * *

Beca and Chloe were hanging out with Dani in her office. The engineer was working through lunch despite both of the mother's pleas that she take a break. The music producer and vice principal gave up and just watched their daughter work while eating. Dani slowly looked up, "What?" She asked with a mouthful of food.

"Nothing love," Chloe said. "We just thought that maybe we'd be able to talk to you during lunch."

"Oh," Dani said, swallowing her food. Wiping her mouth with a napkin, she then turned to her mothers with a smile, "How are you two?"

Beca smiled, "We're good. Your mom, here, got a promotion starting in the fall." She said proudly.

Dani smiled, "Really?" She asked excitedly. "Principal?"

Chloe nodded, "Michele's retiring, she thought I'd make the right fit." The vice principal said.

"That's _so_ awesome, Mom. Congratulations." The engineer said with a smile.

"Thank you angel." She said. "How's everything going here?"

Dani rolled her eyes, "Fine." She muttered.

Beca puts her arm around Chloe's shoulder, "You sure?" The music producer asked.

Dani sighed, "Yeah, sorry. I've just been off my game a little lately." She said. "Definitely have been neglecting my own needs." She said.

"Like?" Chloe asked softly.

"Mama snuggles for sure." She said.

Beca smiled and then looked over at the couch, "Well, we can fix that." She said.

Chloe looked over to where he wife was looking, smiled and nodded, "Yes we can. C'mon angel."

The two mothers wrapped themselves around their youngest child, Dani curled into Chloe taking in the familiar scent of her mommy. The smell of her perfume that she grew up finding comfort in when her mama wasn't around. And that's the way the three stayed for a long while.

* * *

Aubrey was standing with a glass of wine, leaning against the doorframe of Cody's room, she was thinking about the first time she came into the room to cuddle with him.

 _Aubrey snuck into Cody's room the morning of his adoption and squeezed into his bed behind him to spoon him, "What the-" Cody mumbled. "Aubrey?"_

 _"Hi love," she said kissing his cheek._

 _"What are you doing?" He asked._

 _"I want to cuddle, is that okay?" She asked._

 _"I mean, of course." He said turning around and curling into her. A few moments of silence, "You're going to officially be my mom today. Happy birthday."_

 _Aubrey kissed his cheek, "Thank you honey." She said. "I couldn't ask for a better birthday gift."_

 _"I love you." He said._

 _"I love you too." She responded._

The lawyer was brought out of the memory by feeling arms wrap around her waist and a chin on her shoulder, she looked to see Emily, "Hi baby." She said leaning back into her girlfriend.

"Hi love," Emily responds, "you okay?"

"I need to clean out this room," she said.

"You don't have to," Emily said.

"I need to." Aubrey said. "I need to start moving on."

"He was your son," Emily said. "If this is what we were talking about last night, you don't have to rush."

"I want to move on," she said. "I'll always love him, but I want to move on. I want- I want-"

Emily moved her girlfriend to the living room couch, took the glass of wine out of her hands and just held the distraught woman and rocked her back and forth, "It's okay. You can just cry. Let it out. You're okay." She soothed. After a few minutes of Aubrey crying really hard, she settled down, "You don't have to talk if you don't want to."

"I do want to though," Aubrey got out. "You implied that you might want to start a family with me."

"Yeah, but-" Emily tried.

"And I _really_ want to start one with you too, but I don't know how to move on. Micah moved on and I don't know how he did it because every single day, all I think about is how I lost my baby boy and there's no way to get him back." She said before she started to cry again. Emily held her tighter and just let her cry.

* * *

A few days later, Chloe was sitting in her office at work, looking at something on her laptop when she heard a knock on the door, "Come in," she said second naturedly. The door opened to see a young man in a buttoned up shirt and jeans with a nervous bottom lip between his teeth, Chloe looked up, "Hi, may I help you?" She asked.

"H- h- hi, Vice Principal Mitchell-Beale, you probably don't remember me, but, uhh, my name- my name is Benjamin Todd, and my freshman year here you were my music teacher." He got out.

Chloe stared at him gently for a moment, trying to place him because she recognized the name and the face looked familiar, but the voice was off, and then she remembered, "Ohh, Benjamin Todd, class of 2036, my son's year, yes. Hi." She said.

"Ye- yeah. That's me." He said. "Hello."

"What brings you back here?" She asked gently.

"I just came to say thank you." He said more confidently than when he came in. "I'm a CEO of a news media outlet now and if it wasn't for you my freshman year, I don't think I would be where I'm at today." He said. "You always encouraged us to follow our dreams, even us foster kids. So, I did. I went to Yale on an academic scholarship, I studied journalism and started my own news outlet my senior year and it took off in my first year of my grad program. I'm doing everything I wanted to do and more. And it it wasn't for you, I don't know where I'd be. So, thank you."

Chloe's eyes started to tear up, remembering her breakdown in Beca's arms a few nights prior, then she realized, this is why she does what she does.

"You're very welcome, Benjamin." She said. "I'm proud of you, for chasing your dreams."

"Thank you," he said chuckling. "That's all I can really get out right now. Other than, how's- how's Micah? I heard about Cody, I can't imagine what Micah and Cody's mom are going through right now."

"He's okay, slowly moving on," she responded.

"Micah and I didn't talk much during our years here, but I know he would always have my back. Tell him, hi for me, will ya?" The man said.

"Of course," Chloe said. "Tell me all about what's going on with you. I want to hear everything."

The man smiled and started speaking and Chloe finally felt at peace knowing that this is what she was created to do, this was her purpose.

* * *

 **End Of The Chapter A/N:** Well, it wasn't much of an update, but it did set up some things that you can see now and some that you can't.

Until next time, that I promise wouldn't be almost five months later.


	11. Don't Want Anybody Else

**A/n:** I know, I _KNOW_. I took another long hiatus. I'm _sorry._ This summer was busy. Remember in _The Love Of Family_ how I said I was moving over 400 miles away from my hometown for film school? Well, I'm in my last year of film school and prep for it and the beginning of the semester was... _intense_ to say the least. I've been writing a short film script nonstop for my senior thesis.

I'm back for now though! I miss writing this family!

* * *

 **Chapter Eleven: Don't Want Anybody Else**

Micah was standing in Beca and Chloe's kitchen drinking coffee. He was nervous. Noah was coming over for a family brunch. He wasn't nervous for the medical intern to meet his family: he already knew Beca and Emily. Chloe, Aubrey, and Dani would fall in love with him immediately. Eventually Taylor, Parker, Bailee, and Corey would love him too. He knew that, but that's not why he was nervous.

He was nervous because he feels like he moved on from Cody too soon. He found himself thinking about his late fiancé a lot. Especially when he was with Noah. The amount of times that he's found himself with a beer in front of him and an arm around Noah, thinking about Cody… or how often he would do it standing alone drinking coffee.

Chloe came up from behind him and wrapped his waist and put her chin on his shoulder, "Hi Mommy," he got out.

Chloe's eyebrows furrowed, "Mommy? Only Dani really calls me that still." She said.

"Sorry," he said.

"No, no." She said. "It's fine, whatcha thinking about, baby?"

He sighed, "Cody." He said.

"What about him?" Chloe asked.

"I think I moved on too fast." He said. "I really like Noah, but I think I moved on too fast."

"What makes you say that?" Chloe asked.

"Every single time that I'm with Noah, my arm wrapped around him, I keep thinking about Cody." Micah said. "I just want to feel _normal_ again."

"Baby," Chloe said.

"I feel like an awful person." He said.

"Hey, you aren't." Chloe said. "You're a human being who is struggling to survive."

"Mom-" he tried.

"No," she said firmly, turning him around. She looked him deeply in the eyes and said, "You, my son, are the farthest thing from an awful person." Tears start dwelling in Micah's eyes, "I know it doesn't feel like it right now. I know that it's hard, but please know that you aren't." She grabs his face, "An awful person, wouldn't be feeling like this right now. You aren't awful. You have a good heart. I remember the day I first met you. Do you remember that day?"

He nodded, "I was saving a fellow freshman from getting shoved into a locker." He said.

 _Chloe was walking to her first class when she saw it happen. She should've expected it — a freshman getting shoved into a locker — what she wasn't expecting was another freshman saving the bullied freshman. The brave freshman would later become her son._

 _"Hey!" A somewhat deep voice boomed through the hallway. "What are you doing?" The voice — Micah — asked._

 _"Stay out of it, Forrester." The lead bully said._

 _"No, you know this isn't right, Walker." Micah said. "Get him out there."_

 _"Since when do you care about doing what's right, orphan boy?" Another one of the bullies said. "Aren't you the same person that put this same loser in a trash can two years ago?"_

 _"That doesn't matter," Micah said firmly. "Get him out of there."_

 _Chloe decided to speak up, "What seems to be the problem, boys?" She said in her teacher voice._

 _"These guys have a kid trapped in that locker," Micah said._

 _"Really? Mr. Walker? Mr. Malone? Care to explain?" Chloe asked._

 _"Mrs. Mitchell-Beale-" Walker stammered. "It's- it's-"_

 _"Is it true?" Chloe asked slowly._

 _The boys started running in different directions as Micah jerry-rigged the locker open and he looked at the bullied freshman, "Hi," he said. "Come on out."_

 _"Mi-Micah?" The boy, Benjamin Todd, said._

 _"Yeah, hi Ben." He said. "I'm really sorry about that. And for throwing you in a trash can a couple years ago."_

 _"I think this forgives you for that." He said. "Thank you."_

 _Micah nods, "Of course," he said. "Where's your first class?" Chloe watched as this young man in front of her took care of the other young man and then when he turned around and said, "Thank you for your help, Mrs…?"_

 _"Mitchell-Beale." Chloe responded reaching out her hand to shake. "That was extremely brave of you, Mr. Forrester. Micah, yes?"_

 _He nodded, "I have you for fifth period." He said._

 _"I look forward to the year with you. Take care." She said walking away._

"Ben came into my office recently." Chloe said pulling Micah out of the memory.

"Really?" Micah said placing his forehead on his mom's shoulder. "How's he doing?"

"Good," she said. "He owns his own news outlet now."

"The American Times," Micah said. "I was just reading an article from it last night. I miss that guy. We were never close, but it was nice to know he always had my back."

"He says hi and that he's sorry about Cody." Chloe said, hugging her son. Silence. "You have to talk to Noah."

"Why?" Micah said. "So he can break up with me? Great, finally have something good going for me-"

"He has every right to know, babe." Chloe said. "You have to be honest about what you're feeling." Beat. "How are you feeling?"

"Have you ever wanted to take a bat and destroy a room? That's how I feel right now." He said.

"So angry." Chloe said. "Okay."

"I've never wanted to die as much as I do right now." He said softly.

Chloe pulled him back and grabbed his face again, "Honey?" She said concerned.

"Don't worry," he said. "I won't act on it, but the feeling is definitely there."

"You know I'm going to have to tell Mama and you know how she's going to react." Chloe said.

"Tell me what?" Beca asked coming into the kitchen to get more coffee seeing her wife and son in an intimate parent-child position. "What's going on, loves?"

"Our baby boy here is just dealing with some doubts and depression," Chloe said. "He won't act on it, but he does feel like he wants to die. Thinks he's an awful person for feeling like he moved on too quickly."

Beca was immediately at her son's side, pulling him into her, "I got you, baby boy." She said. "I got you."

Beca had her son, who was more than twice her size, in her arms. Chloe was on the other side and they were mama-sandwiching their son in. They knew his thoughts got dark and they knew that all they need to do was just be there for him in this time.

* * *

Micah was feeling a little better after the impromptu standing cuddle session with his moms in the kitchen. Not fully 100%, but still better. He was sitting with his arm around Noah as everyone sat around the table talking. Micah was staring at his aunts. Emily also had her arm around Aubrey and the lawyer was cuddled into the music producer's shoulder.

Noah was just trying to understand the family.

"So, you four," he gestured between Beca, Chloe, Aubrey, and Emily, "are not actually sisters?"

Beca spit out some of her drink, "No, that would be weird." She said putting her arm around Chloe. "We were in an acapella group together. Won three national championships and one world championship."

"Wait, you four were in the Barden Bellas?" Noah asked. The four Bellas were confused as they gave him an affirmative answer. "Sorry, I did my undergrad at Barden. I was a Treble."

The four Bellas looked at each other before looking at him in disbelief, "Really?" They all asked.

Noah enthusiastically nodded as he pulled out his phone to prove it to them, Micah made small talk with Dani, "So, how's work, bud?" He asked taking a sip of coffee, arm still around Noah.

"Good," she said. "Busy as always. How's everything going at Legacy Records?"

Micah nodded, "Good, can't complain." He said.

"See," Noah then said showing the four Bellas proof.

"No _fucking_ way," Beca said. "I do recall Brandon saying you went to Barden, but thought he was joking to mess with me and Legacy."

"Right?" Emily said.

"Do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Micah asked Dani.

"Something about acapella that's all I know." Dani said looking down at her phone.

"Yeah," Noah said. "When I was kicked out during my senior year of high school and managed to get the loan to go to Barden, the Trebles and even the Bellas became my family. Even though they're campus rivals, there is a sense of unity between the two."

The five former acapella singers continued talking about their times on the Bellas and the Trebles. Leaving the young music producer and engineer looking at their phones. Micah's hand would rub up and down Noah's arm every once in awhile as he watched a football game on his phone on mute. Dani was texting Matthew about something work-related, there was some tension between the two of them that she couldn't quite place her finger on, but she ignored it for now.

Micah looked up from his phone and looked between the five people still adamantly talking about acapella. He looked at his boyfriend and realized that while he may still not be 100% over Cody's death, he can't imagine his life without this medical intern.

* * *

Dani was sitting on the couch still texting Matthew. Still feeling some sort of tension through his texts.

 _[Matthew, August 13th, 4:44pm]: We just need to figure out a way for the app to stop crashing every six months._

 _[Dani, August 13th, 4:44pm]: I told you I'd handle it._

 _[Matthew, August 13th, 4:44pm]: Yeah, SIX months ago. Come on, Mitchell-Beale, we're trying to save lives here._

Dani let out a suppressed scream and fell to bury her face into the couch, "What's wrong, monkey?" She heard Aubrey ask.

Dani looked up to see both of her aunts coming in concerned, the engineer took a deep breath, "Just work stress." She answered.

"You've been pretty glued to your phone all day." Emily said as the two came and sat on both sides of Dani.

"The app is crashing and it's my fault and I can't seem to get it to not crash every six months. There's some weird tension between me and Matthew that I can't seem to understand and everything is overwhelming and - and-"

"Okay," Aubrey said soothingly. "Breathe. Breathe." Dani started breathing as both of the aunts sandwiched her in. She felt Emily's chin on her head. Her breathing seemed to calm her down. "You're overworking yourself."

"I know." Dani said. "I have to make a living, Aunt Bree."

"Honey," Emily said softly, "I get the workaholic tendencies," she looked over at Aubrey because the music producer has to sometimes get her to come out of her office, Aubrey rolled her eyes, "but you have to take care of yourself."

"She's right, monkey." Aubrey said, making Dani think of the first time her aunt called her that.

 _Beca and Chloe were on a date night. It was rare that happened with two young children, but Aubrey told them to go enjoy themselves and that she would take care of her six and four year old nieces._

 _It was after dinner. She was getting the girls ready for their bath and put them to bed, so that she could collapse on the couch because she didn't realize watching a six and four year old at the same time would be so hard._

 _Taylor and Dani were fairly easy, but Dani was having a bit of separation anxiety from Beca and Chloe and was hanging onto Aubrey for dear life. The law student didn't mind, she knew that Dani just needed to be held all the time. Chloe warned her of that, but this was not what she was expecting._

 _"You're such a monkey, you know that?" Aubrey said to Dani._

 _"Yeah, but I'm your monkey, right?" Dani said back._

 _Aubrey smiled, "Yeah, you're my monkey." She said._

"I just want my mom's to know that I can take care of myself." She said after coming out of the memory that she vaguely remembered. "Ever since the trail and rehab, they kind of have coddled me. I want to prove to them that I can take care of myself and that they don't need to coddle me." Dani said. "I don't know," she then mumbled. "I'm just really tired. And tired of everything at work being my fault."

"I'm sure everyone is just stressed and it's not your fault," Aubrey said.

"How about we sit here with you and cuddle with you for awhile," Emily said giving her something to take her mind off of it.

"I'd really like that," Dani smiled.

* * *

Noah was cuddled into Micah in the music producer's bed at the moms' house. The couple were taking a break from the Mitchell-Beale Posen-Junk shenanigans and spending some time alone together. The medical intern's head was on the music producer's chest. Micah was still feeling like a shitty person because of his thoughts earlier.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Noah asked.

"How much of a shitty boyfriend I am," Micah answered.

Noah let out a strained chuckle, "You aren't a shitty boyfriend," he said kissing the man's cheek.

"I can't stop thinking about Cody," Micah said.

"I know," Noah said softly. "And, it's _okay_."

"I sometimes think that I moved on too fast," the music producer said.

Silence came over the two of them as the medical intern processed the information, "Is this-" Noah cleared his throat, "is this you breaking up with me?"

Micah pulled him closer, "No, but I do want you to know where I'm at." He said. "It's only fair to you."

Noah placed his chin on Micah's chest looking at him, "Cody was your life for so long, I don't expect you to really ever get over him. He was your first real love. That's hard enough to get over after a breakup. Let alone death." He said.

"He was my first _everything._ " Micah said with tears in his eyes.

Noah swallowed as they switched positions, Micah never usually let anyone other than Cody or his moms or aunts hold him, but he guess things could change. The medical intern ran his hand through thick hair, "I know baby, I know."

And that's how the couple stayed for a long while.

* * *

Beca was holding Chloe and Dani was sprawled across their laps. Aubrey was cuddled into Emily across from them. Micah lying on his back on the floor with his head in Noah's lap, the medical intern playing with his hair.

They were all buzzed from the amount of alcohol they just consumed.

Emily was looking at her girlfriend, who had a glass of white wine in her hands, staring at Chloe who was talking about how she had gotten a promotion starting in the fall and Micah was asking her questions about it. The younger female music producer couldn't care less about their surroundings, all the could think about was that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with the woman in her arms. She began to think about what life would be like as she grew old with the lawyer and she thinks back to the last video chat call she had with Parker.

 _"So, how's Aubrey?" Parker asked._

 _Emily smiled at her son thinking about her girlfriend who was in the next room working on some stuff for a case, "She's good." She answered. "Working hard."_

 _"She makes you really happy, huh?" He asked. Emily nodded her head fervently, "I can tell because your smile is as bright as Aunt Beca's when she's looking at Aunt Chloe when she doesn't know that she's looking."_

 _"I'm REALLY happy, baby." She said, suddenly grateful that she was wearing earphones. "Aubrey makes me happier than I've ever been." He smiled back at her softly, "I have to ask you something."_

 _"What's that?" Parker asked._

 _"Aubrey and I are talking about starting a family together, would that be a problem?" She asked hesitantly._

 _The man's face was emotionless for a second before breaking out into a smile, "Yeah, Ma. It'd be cool to have some siblings. You and Bree though? Forever?"  
_

 _Emily nodded her head, "I can't imagine my life with anyone else, to be completely honest." She said._

 _"Sooo, put a ring on it." He said jokingly. "I don't want anyone else as a second stepparent, to be completely honest."_

"Marry me," Emily then suddenly said in a quiet lull in the room.

Aubrey looked up at the woman, as everyone looked over at them, "Wh-what?" She asked sitting up.

Emily sat up straighter, "Marry me." She said as the whole room watched the whole ordeal unfold.

"Are- are you sure?" Aubrey asked.

Emily nodded, "I've never been more sure about anything in my entire life, I don't want to spend the rest of my life with anyone else, Bree." She said. "And Parker doesn't want anyone else to be his second stepparent. I know this is all sudden and out of the blue, but-"

"Yes," is all Aubrey could get out. "Of course."

The two came in for a kiss and it was quiet in the room before Micah and Beca slowly sat up and slowly started to clap his hands and Chloe squealed a little.

* * *

 **End of the chapter a/n:** Like I have stated before, I'm not sure how consistent I'll be with updates going into my senior year of film school, but I'm gonna really try. I also fucked up real bad in my personal life lately and am doing damage control.


End file.
